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Frugal Astronomy & Do-It-Yourself projects

What telescope should I buy?

$20 Galileoscope, sub-$100 reflectors, and how to get more out of astronomy for less $$$

Having found various ways to eke the most performance out of equipment that's far more affordable for the average person, I'll do my best to not only share the things that I've learned and built over the last two decades, but also anything else I happen to find on the web that's useful too.

Many retail stores sell decent lenses in not so great telescope packages that are stuck on top of even worse mounts. However, since the lenses for these telescopes are usually at least "decent," there is a way to salvage what you've purchased, and make your department store telescope into a useful scope.

In January 2010, I wrote a column about how to do that for my local paper. The link to the slightly longer, link-filled version of it online is here.

Get a NEW telescope that allows you to see the planets and stars at the same magnification that Galileo did for just $15!! (UPDATE: As of early 2010, the price is now $20 - still a bargain.) In 2009, the International Year of Astronomy, a number of organizations have banded together to let people across the world own their first telescope! Click here to get one - and hurry, I don't think this offer will last forever.

PLEASE know that this telescope is very simplistic, as it is intended to be very low cost to allow folks to "whet their appetite" for stargazing. So please realize that you will not see "Hubble Space Telescope" type images. A few bright planets, the Moon, and some very bright night-sky objects are what you'll find with it, though family times spent together is priceless.

The biggest problem with most "small" and "inexpensive" telescopes is not so much the lenses or mirrors. Often, manufacturers actually do put decent optics into telescopes this small. And although small, these instruments can show you a fair number of objects in the sky.

If you can find them, that is.

And that's probably the biggest frustration of most new telescope owners - they get their new scope, find out how difficult it can be to point the thing at an object they'd like to see, and the telescope becomes a coat-tree or laundry hanger or some other unworthy piece of furniture in the house.

FREE PDF INSTRUCTIONS - CLICK HERE

Jay Scheuerle of Pennsylvania has solved this problem, if you're the slightest bit handy with some basic tools, and have $90. He calls this scope the "Portabowl" because not only is this scope extremely light and easy to move, it's based on using a bowl as part of the base. Contrary to how most "retail" scopes are built, the bowl makes moving the scope to targets in the sky TOTALLY intuitive and easy! Plus, his step-by-step instructions ensure success. Want a good scope? Build your own! You'll save money AND get a better scope than you could buy new for the price.

I purchased a rather large 127mm refractor in late 2008. To use it smoothly, relibaly and effectively, I needed a mount large and steady enough to handle that size scope. I didn't have the money to buy one (that would have been about $500-$1000, so I built one instead, for about $100. This was my second attempt at it (the first one was a little clumsy to use).

It's effectively a "Dobsonian" style telescope mount, but made for a refractor. For more information about this design, click here.

This is a picture of a cat's perch chair that I made for observing. This makes observing from all of my telescopes - and binoculars! - much, MUCH more comfortable to do. I can set the seat to the height required so that the eyepiece is within easy reach of my eye. Or, I can put the seat a good ways down, lean back, and scan the sky with my binoculars, while the chair itself keeps my head in an ideal position for viewing, and holding it steady.

It's made from a few 1x4's, a small section of 1/2" plywood, and two small 1x6's and a piece of 1x12 for the seat itself. I added some cushioning and a seat cover; the checkerboard pattern makes it easy to find in the dark, as do the white and black paint on the chair itself.

The best part is, the whole thing folds up flat - for easy storage and/or transport!

Here's the basic structure for a "less than $100 DECENT telescope" I'm working on building from scratch. I don't have the plans yet, and I still need to get my mirror re-aluminized, but with a few simple hand tools, you will be able to make this telescope for less than $100 too! I'll post plans, pictures and instructions soon.

Check back in the section for more information on how I've built tripods for my telescopes (saving me, quite literally, hundreds of dollars), how to build an astrophotography platform, how to make your own low-cost (and safe) solar filter, and a lot more things - some of which are very inexpensive, but quite dramatic in performance improvement - like flocking telescope tubes.

One last thing: Please be sure to turn off your outdoor lights, or if you must have an outdoor light on, be certain it is a full cut-off fixture, and the minimum wattage required. No sense in lighting the underside of planes at night - it just ruins the night sky for everyone else! Besides, doing so really will save you money on your electric bills. For more information about light pollution, please visit the International Dark Sky Association.