Telescope Building with John Dobson
Video Statistics and Information
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Channel: Dobson Astro-Initiatives
Views: 1,006,779
Rating: 4.8658204 out of 5
Keywords: Telescope (Invention), John Dobson (Astronomer)
Id: snz7JJlSZvw
Channel Id: undefined
Length: 88min 30sec (5310 seconds)
Published: Mon Dec 08 2014
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This guy has done more for DIY astronomy than Newton. He's a special kind of hero.
His telescope designs have enabled people to make some very big telescopes for a fraction of how much they used to cost to make.
I've had a chance to look through a couple of bigger Dobsonian scopes, one of which was a 30" primary mirror. The whole scope was something like 20-ish feet long, but it could break down into pieces and be packed in the trunk of a car.
The owner said it only cost him a bit under $3,000 to make since he ground his own mirror. A similarly sized reflecting scope on a normal equatorial mount would likely cost at least $50,000 and it would require a permanent mount and it wouldn't fit in the trunk of your car.
I could see the Great Red Spot on Jupiter with it. You could practically count rocks on the Moon with it. It was really kind of intense how much detail and light you could see through what was really just a pile of hardware store junk and a nice mirror.
Oh my God I just watched the whole thing and they didn't show the image of the Moon! We saw a flashlight bulb and a transformer, but not the Moon. The humanity...
Guess I'm going to have to build a telescope now.
I'm only half way through the video but it's time for bed. I'm so excited to finish this tomorrow. I grew up going to star parties with my dad and I find this process fascinating! Thanks op for posting this!
Everybody should head over to /r/telescopes and learn how you too can own a dobsonian telescope capable of showing the rings of Saturn and moons of Jupiter for as little as $200.
Saw this was over an hour, said to myself I will watch a few minutes. An hour later I am glad I watched the entire thing.
Just watched the whole thing. 10/10
Thought I'd watch a couple minutes....nope. Watched all 88 minutes of it.
I built a dobsonian long before I ever watched this video. I didn't grind the mirror myself, but after watching him do it I kind of wanted to. This guy is amazing.
my god. how much would it cost to buy a premade lens that is precision ground to tight tolerances?