

Scoping out the Galileoscope: $15 telescope designed by professional astronomers - mbrubeck
http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/07/22/2004797.aspx

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anigbrowl
It's cool and I think I'll order one, but they missed an opportunity in not
offering a way to connect a digital camera to the scope, which would vastly
increase awareness of what can be done with it. Of course, people will find
ways to hack it together; but given the cost and size of digital camera
technology I'm really surprised they're not offering a $79.99 imaging head
with a USB cable hanging out back.

Still, well done.

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obvioustroll
Errr.. the whole point of this scope is to duplicate the optics that Galileo
himself had to deal with. A web cam would be sort of self-defeating.

In any case, cheap cameras give very poor results, but if you want to try one
you can always do this: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9khTIkwNmW8>

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anigbrowl
Well, it's not - that's why they include an achromatic lens element to reduce
color fringing as well as an (optional) rectifying eyepiece. Microscope
eyepiece cams aren't too pricey on eBay and might deliver better results than
a consumer cam.

I can see a lot of cool little science fair projects with something like this,
not all for astronomy either, eg mount 2 of them in parallel and build a
stereoscopic analysis tool.

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obvioustroll
"Duplicate" was a poor choice of words, I'm trying to say that the point of
the scope is to give kids the same experience that Galileo had.

I mean, yes, they opted for a modern achromatic lens - they also chose plastic
instead of wood - but that doesn't change the basic point of the scope.

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wallflower
"This 51 times larger light gathering produces 4.27 magnitude steps in star
brightness. Magnitude Steps = 5 * Log10(eye/telescope). So if you can see mag
6 stars with your unaided eyes, the telescope can get you down to magnitude
10.27, which places a great many more stars into your grasp."

[http://www.xomba.com/15_telescope_lets_you_see_more_than_gal...](http://www.xomba.com/15_telescope_lets_you_see_more_than_galileo_could_see)

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joey
Don't forget to pack your android when you go on a stargazing field trip to
escape the city lights. I relearned all the constellations I knew as a kid
after playing with SkyMap for a week.

<http://www.google.com/sky/skymap.html>

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myth_drannon
There is another one albeit more commercial, mounted and cheap for 45$.

[http://www.universetoday.com/2009/04/27/the-celestron-
firsts...](http://www.universetoday.com/2009/04/27/the-celestron-firstscope-
telescope-official-product-of-international-year-of-astronomy/)

~~~
obvioustroll
That's not the point - the point of this scope is to emulate the scope Galileo
had.

Anyway, the problem with tiny little reflecting scopes is that you need a
table to set them up on. When you're out in a dark field looking at the stars,
there's rarely a table handy.

~~~
mbrubeck
Actually, this is not supposed to be a replica or simulation of Galileo's
telescope. The scope in its default configurations has around 50% to 200%
greater magnification than Galileo did, and it also uses newer optical
techniques (achromatic doublets, internal baffles) to provide greater clarity
than 17th-century instruments.

It _is_ possible to assemble the Galileoscope in an alternate configuration
that has the same magnification as the scope that Galileo used.

The real purpose of the Galileoscope is not to build a replica, but to build a
cheap but high-quality telescope so that anyone (including children in schools
that receive donated scopes) can see what Galileo saw: Saturn's rings,
Jupiter's moons, and detailed views of our own moon.

~~~
obvioustroll
I did say "emulate" not "replicate".

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ars
Combine the telescope with this:
<http://www.google.com/search?q=eyebolt+camera+stabilizer>

To stabilize it very cheap.

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obvioustroll
Has anyone received theirs yet? I ordered two to give away as prizes for my
club's big annual star party - but I'm more than a little worried they won't
arrive in time.

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rimantas
I have ordered mine on March 11th and got them July 11th.

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obvioustroll
Thanks. I didn't hear about them till June; hopefully the scopes will show up
soon.

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amjith
I just ordered mine. I can't wait to try it out.

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staunch
I just ordered one. Look forward to trying it out. The $9 S&H fee is pretty
infomercial-ish, but still dirt cheap.

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krishna2
Just order a few more and then split the s&h withe friends/family. (which is
what I did). Plus it is a great gift.

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hyperbovine
I know embarassingly little about the heavens. Can anyone recommend a great
(not just good) book to start?

~~~
splat
Depends on what sort of knowledge you're trying to get. If you just want to be
able to point out constellations, I would recommend The Stars by H. A. Rey
(yes, the same guy who wrote Curious George). It's unique in that it displays
the constellations in a manner that makes them actually look like what they're
trying to represent (which ends up making them much easier to find). There's
also some good descriptions of the mythology behind many of the constellations
and some other interesting features in the sky that can be picked out with the
naked eye or binoculars. There's also a section at the end that discusses the
celestial sphere (how the sky changes during the seasons, the ecliptic,
precession, etc.).

If you want something with more depth, I highly recommend Night Sky from St.
Martin's Press. It's a little 300 page field guide that will give you a
comprehensive introduction to the heavens and basic astronomy and provides you
with enough data to go out observing with. The first quarter of the book is
devoted to introducing the fundamentals of astronomy from the celestial
sphere, to coordinate systems, to telescope designs, to the magnitude system,
to variable stars, and stellar evolution. The rest of the book contains star
charts, detailed descriptions of each of the constellations and interesting
objects therein, and information on the planets. The only problem is that the
book is a bit old, so the tables of data (sunset times, positions of the
planets, etc.) are now out of date. Nevertheless, it's well worth buying.

If you would like a more serious introduction to astronomy and know some basic
physics and calculus, you can do no better than to read Introduction to Modern
Astrophysics by Carroll & Ostlie (affectionately known as BOB -- the Big
Orange Book). It's about 1500 pages long and covers absolutely everything in
astronomy. It's clear, comprehensive, and will likely tell you everything you
need to know.

