It is important to understand how a telescope functions if you intend to build one yourself. A telescope can magnify images of objects at a distance by using lens to bring them into clear focus. There are various ways you can use to make your own telescope.
Try perusing online sources that teach you how to make telescopes. Many amateurs are experts at building telescopes, and their work meets the same standards of the commercially- built telescopes sold by retailers today. You can also just buy or borrow books about building telescopes.
Here are some instructions you can follow to build a simple telescope. You will need the following things:
• A piece of paper that has printing on its surface
• One ruler
• A pair of scissors
• A colored marker
• Tape (you should use duct tape for best results)
• A long tube made of cardboard (you can get these from your aluminum foil or paper
towel rolls in the kitchen)
• A pair of magnifying lens, with one of stronger magnification strength than the other - you can use lens from old reading glasses or from magnifying glasses for this
1. Get the lens of stronger magnification or that is bigger. Place your printed paper on top of that lens. You should then lay the smaller or weaker lens over the printed paper - your paper should be sandwiched between either lens. You will see blurred printing so you need to gauge the distance when the printing becomes a clear image by shifting the distance of the lenses from the paper until a clear image is achieved. (Get someone to measure the distance for you.)
2. Now take your cardboard tube and slash a large enough slot about one inch from its end which will allow the larger lens to be fitted within it. From that slot, measure the distance you got from Step One above - then cut a slot in which the smaller lens can fit in snugly.
3. Insert the lenses in their slots in the cardboard tube as specified. You can keep them in place by using duct tape (or other tape) to fix them in the slots. If necessary, you may shorten the tube by around two inches from the small lens' slot to make the telescope easier to handle. Peer through your telescope tube to check if your printed paper can be seen clearly through the two lenses. If you need to, adjust the lens.
And now guess what? You have created your own simple yet functional refracting telescope.
Labels: Telescopes
