The LARGEST Amateur Visual Telescope on Earth!!!! 70-inch Aperture!

hey everyone welcome back to another video tonight I have something very special for all of you this is the world's largest amateur telescope it's a 70 inch Newtonian style reflector telescope and this one is owned and operated by a gentleman named Mike Clement this uh was all hand configured and hand built by him and this was solely His idea to take a satellite blank and make it into a full-fledged amateur telescope so this is 70 inches in diameter so it's a huge light Gathering ability on this telescope for tonight we're going to hopefully check it out view a couple of things and tonight is public house here at the Stansberry Park Observatory complex or home of the Salt Lake Astronomical Society they're going to welcome the public to look through this tonight as this is one of the last Star parties of 2022 so we're getting a nice special treat and stay tuned with us [Music] thank you [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign joined here by Mike Clements the owner and founder of this telescope here once again this is the largest amateur telescope on the face of the Earth at a 70 inch aperture and Mike how did you come up with this idea I mean that's truly amazing thank you well yeah ever since I was a kid I was enjoying you know building telescopes and looking through them so this was just kind of a progression of that it's really nothing special except it's large it's just a larger version of smaller telescopes okay what it is it's a seven inch diameter United States uh mirror intended for a spy satellite and I turned it into a telescope that you actually look through so here's what happens the The Starlight or whatever object you're looking at hits the big mirror then the light reflects to the top mirror which is 29 inches reflects back down to where we look through this is called the focus and what I did is I built the structure the metal structure everything you see to hold the mirrors in place so this whole structure what it's all about is just holding the mirrors in place the telescope itself just very simple materials just a mild steel uh various components that I bought it well believe it or not Lowe's uh and Home Depot uh you know do-it-yourself stores Mike there's been a lot of talk recently on the forums about this being an off-axis style reflector can you tell us a little bit about the optical design oh yeah I always cringe when I hear that term because off axis is totally not what this design is this is Believe It or Not A Newtonian design uh a Newtonian typically reflects the line out at approximately 45 degrees uh whereas in this case the flat uh folds light back down so that it's a lower uh height for the viewing you know to access but it still is a conventional Newtonian well with the exceptions the flat is tilted more well or less I guess you could say it's more flat it's about if I recall correctly about 20 21 degree tilt versus 45 degrees if don't hold me to that exactly but I always want to emphasize that it's an on-axis Newtonian that is if I've done my job right and collimated it it's on axis what people refer to is off axis would be a sector out of the primary mirror that's being utilized to actually avoid the central obstruction that's what's referred to as an off axis design which this clearly is not because this is utilizing the entire primary mirror so so you know I just want to make that distinction okay Mike we do thank you for this how do you find the targets that you're looking for in a particular light with something this large that is a really good question and in fact that was one of my challenges because my goal was to have it be aimed by hand okay now let me make it clear there is a motor drive system but in other words it will be aimed by hand and once the target is acquired then the motor drives uh are engaged and the object is following now in order to in other words it's not a go-to the person still is involved with the gaming process so what is done is to cite an object in the sky you can utilize one of many of the site tubes depending upon what elevation the telescope is therefore what we can stand flat on the ground and there was always a site tube accessible people say why are there so many site tubes well because the telescope obviously can go up and down so once the object is roughly acquired then you can go to the the series of magnified finder Scopes oh including a C8 telescope and then when the object is centered in the C8 then you go and look through the main telescope and the object should be there now with all that being said or you can cheat and simply use the setting circles but I'm kind of a you know old school I like I like doing the search sure so this does have setting circles right it does it does oh yeah some nice handmade setting circles there now how do you find when you're trying to fine tune an object what we do is we go to uh we we go to Sky Safari we go to Sky Safari which gives the altitude and the Azimuth of the object in this case we dial in the Azimuth that's the the row the side to side rotation and then for the altitude it's simply a level device that I bought at Home Depot so that indicates the elevation there's a very simple straightforward things you have the giant pollination bolts you know Push Pull okay and then well underneath the cover you actually have locking bolts uh locking nut and bolt system uh very straightforward and then for the for the secondary mirror we have just simple uh tip tilt three axis system uh sort of along the lines of the primary mirror but actually in Reverse is referred to as suspension rather than flotation we have 18 pads that actually float well because realize the secondary mirror I should say a secondary flat is hung upside down so it's kind of the opposite of the primary mirror or most primary mirrors this secondary mirror is a suspension system if that helps out I know that's kind of confusing but it's weird but weird cool well Mike this is a truly a remarkable telescope and we do really appreciate you sharing your story because this is a wonderful instrument and I can't wait to get a good look through it later on tonight thank you so much and I appreciate yours and everybody's interests thank you Mike once again we are out at the Stansbury Park Observatory this is the 70 inch telescope that is home to this wonderful Observatory out here in Northern Utah this alone is the largest world's amateur telescope on the face of the earth now I'm six foot tall and you can just see the sheer size of this thing it's absolutely truly incredible the size of this telescope and we do thank Mike so much for sharing his story and all of his knowledge and expertise as he handcrafted this beautiful instrument later on tonight we'll get a good look at the spot for now we have to wait for the sky to get dark and for the stars to come out [Music] foreign [Music] just got back from the observatory tonight and I have to say that Mike Clements uh 70-inch telescope is just nothing short of absolutely amazing uh Jupiter looked absolutely fantastic the Cassini division on Saturn was to die for focus is so nice and sharp and he's really drawn a beautiful job of keeping that scope up and maintaining it over the course of the years for the public to enjoy um you know big kudos to Mike Clements because his passion for astronomy and his passion for sharing the hobby with everybody is just something that's truly remarkable seeing him under the sky and educating everybody about his telescope and the targets that you're looking at is just truly awe-inspiring and it's really nice to see out in the world so if you ever have a chance and you're in Salt Lake City or passing through and the observatory has one of their events going on please stop by and check it out it's absolutely amazing and worth it in every way if you're into amateur astronomy and into telescopes stay tuned for the next video clear skies to you all [Music]

Channel: Maximum Astronomy

Views: 61,184

Keywords: astronomy, space, night sky, Newtonian telescope, world's largest telescope, telescope, large telescope, Mike Clements, Salt Lake City, Utah, amateur telescope, Largest telescope, astrophotography, universe, cosmos, planetary, galaxy, nebula

Id: Fx0LiDua7Ww

Length: 12min 6sec (726 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 21 2022