Telescope building

I am developing techniques to build high quality light telescopes. This page documents my efforts and findings, hoping that others can duplicate/improve them.

"Priscilla", a light-weigth 19" telescope

Priscilla is a lightweight 19" (487mm to be exact) telescope, with a F/4.9 parabolic primary mirror. The optical tube and mount are built entirely of carbon fiber / epoxy. This picture was taken at the 2009 Astroday event in Hilo by Matt Dinkins. I often bring Priscilla to public events and star parties: see for example 2009 Galileo Block Party

The ultra-light 1m telescope project

Priscilla was my first serious attempt at making a light telescope. It worked great, but there is still one very heavy piece in the telescope: the primary mirrror. My current project is to build a larger telescope that is still light and can be transported easily. The main difficulty is to make a good lightweight primary mirror.
As part of this project, I have been building various machines and pieces, including: