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The tiniest yet real telescope I've built

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Hello, author here ! Other interesting builds or projects going on in the french amateur telescope maker community :

  - Sunscan, by the STAROS team : a fully integrated open-source solar imaging kit : https://www.sunscan.net/fr  

  - Eric Royer's binocular 24" dobson : http://www.astrosurf.com/topic/124758-bino600/  

  - The Slim400 by Laurent Bourrasseau : https://www.cloudynights.com/forums/topic/920950-the-slim400/  

  - Astrowl, an electronically enhanced astronomy kit : http://www.astrosurf.com/topic/151807-projet-astrowl-de-visuel-assist%C3%A9/  

  - The smallest, an open-source 6" portable dobson : http://www.astrosurf.com/topic/176898-un-dobson-150-f5-facile-%C3%A0-imprimer-et-assez-compact/

  - A dedicated astrophotography power supply : https://github.com/Antiath/Open-Power-Box-XXL

Of course there are many others but those are the one on the top of my head now

8 hours agoby chantepierre

I always love the moment in blog posts like this, where the writer with their esoteric knowledge of the project will say something like "I almost considered reflaboring the exahenge, but of course it would be a ridiculous prospect for a project of this type". And then always, inevitably, there is the followup edit; "I reflabored the exahenge."

Too rarely in life are things made better than practical consideration would dictate, just because of dedication to the craft.

8 hours agoby Nition

So what are these tiny portable ones? I always assumed they were digitally augmented or virtual even - is there a minimum size for it to be a "real" telescope?

1 hour agoby tgtweak

Very nice! But you won't beat this ;)

> Optical Engineer Rik ter Horst shows us how he makes very small telescopes (at home) which are intended for use in micro-satellites.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxwhCmO90UQ

8 hours agoby isolli

Nice!! I printed a very similar (but larger) telescope back in 2018 with similar results... I didn't research my mirrors well and ended up with bad ones. Plus, it wasn't very stable at that size. I'd imagine a smaller version would be much more stable... Thanks for sharing!!