How to Make Your Own Telescope

This post is brought to you by our favorite eleven year old!

I had a very big science assignment to make an optical instrument and write an instruction manual. I chose to make a telescope (it was originally meant to be a Galilean Telescope, but that didn’t work out). Here’s how I made my awesome zebra print telescope!

Materials to find/buy:

• A concave/convex lens. I got mine at American Science and Surplus.
• A big double convex lens. I got this by buying a magnifying glass and snapping off the handle. This needs to be much bigger than the concave/convex lens.
• Two mailing tubes- one should be bigger than the other, but the difference in size shouldn’t be ludicrous. It would work best if the tubes were fairly close in size to their intended lenses. Notice I said fairly- they just need to be very roughly estimated.
• Foam
• Cloth. Make sure it doesn’t clash with your telescope’s color.
• Patterned duct tape. Preferably peace signs, zebra print, pink, or lime green, but if you’re a guy you might want something different. I suppose that you could use paint (but that’s not as cool as duct tape) or not decorate it at all (and THAT’S just plain lame).
• Foamy stickers. Read Step 6 to determine if they are needed.

Steps:

1. Hold your lenses, big one farther away and little one near your eye. Look through the small lens and move the big lens closer and farther away.  When you see maximum magnification have someone else measure how far away the lenses are. REMEMBER THIS NUMBER!!!
 
2. Now you need to experiment with your tubes. Mark a section on each tube that is the measurement that you figured out before. So if you measured 4 ½ inches, you need 4 ½ inches of each tube. Saw out these sections.

3. If you’re going to duct tape this telescope, you better do it now! Wrap the tubes in duct tape. If you’re going to paint it, wait. If you’re not going to decorate it, CHANGE YOUR MIND NOW!!!
 
4. Trace the outline of your small tube onto a piece of foam. Cut it out with a craft knife. Then, trace the outline of your small lens onto the circle of foam. Then cut it out with a craft knife. Yes, the tracing, NOT the lens! 

5. You need to work fast at this point to prevent the hot glue from hardening before its put together. Your foam should look like a donut right now. Run a line of hot glue around the donut hole, and then quickly and carefully insert the small lens into the donut hole. Straighten it.

 
6. If the difference in size between the big lens and the tube is significant, then repeat step 5. If not, then stick some foamy stickers near the edge of the inside of the tube and glue the lens straight into the tube. The same goes for the small tube/lens.  If you think you need to because the lens and tube are way different sizes, then use the foam donut method. If not, use foamies.

7. Wrap about 2/3 of the end of the small tube in cloth that doesn’t clash with your duct tape. I glued, wrapped, glued, wrapped, etc. Do this until there is enough cloth covering the tube that the tubes slide easily and they are snug.
 
8. Stick the tubes inside each other. The cloth covered end should be the end that’s farther away from your eye.

If you’re painting the telescope, you should do it now. Otherwise, happy telescoping!!!