Galileoscope
Encyclopedia
The Galileoscope is a small (2 inch), mass-produced refractor telescope, designed with the intention of increasing public interest in astronomy
Astronomy
Astronomy is a natural science that deals with the study of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside the atmosphere of Earth...

 and science
Science
Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...

. It was developed for the International Year of Astronomy
International Year of Astronomy
The International Year of Astronomy was a year-long celebration of astronomy that took place in 2009 to coincide with the 400th anniversary of the first recorded astronomical observations with a telescope by Galileo Galilei and the publication of Johannes Kepler's Astronomia nova in the 17th century...

 2009.

It is meant to be an inexpensive means by which millions of people can view the same things seen by Galileo Galilei
Galileo Galilei
Galileo Galilei , was an Italian physicist, mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher who played a major role in the Scientific Revolution. His achievements include improvements to the telescope and consequent astronomical observations and support for Copernicanism...

, such as the craters of Earth's Moon
Moon
The Moon is Earth's only known natural satellite,There are a number of near-Earth asteroids including 3753 Cruithne that are co-orbital with Earth: their orbits bring them close to Earth for periods of time but then alter in the long term . These are quasi-satellites and not true moons. For more...

, four of Jupiter's moons
Galilean moons
The Galilean moons are the four moons of Jupiter discovered by Galileo Galilei in January 1610. They are the largest of the many moons of Jupiter and derive their names from the lovers of Zeus: Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto. Ganymede, Europa and Io participate in a 1:2:4 orbital resonance...

, and the Pleiades
Pleiades (star cluster)
In astronomy, the Pleiades, or Seven Sisters , is an open star cluster containing middle-aged hot B-type stars located in the constellation of Taurus. It is among the nearest star clusters to Earth and is the cluster most obvious to the naked eye in the night sky...

.

The Galileoscope uses a 1¼-inch focuser, giving the telescope a great deal of versatility, since this is the standard size for eyepieces used in most amateur- and some professional telescopes. This means the Galileoscope can be used with relatively cheap extra eyepieces to produce magnifications up to 100, or even 200 times (with a 5 mm in combination with the included 2x Barlow). According to telescope-theory however, a magnification of more than 125x would not be recommended for a scope this size because the aperture of 2" along with the focal length limits sharpness beyond this. Also the design of the slide-in/out focusing tube, without any gears or knobs, makes it near impossible to focus above the 125x limit.

It also utilizes achromat glass lenses
Lens (optics)
A lens is an optical device with perfect or approximate axial symmetry which transmits and refracts light, converging or diverging the beam. A simple lens consists of a single optical element...

 in the objective-lens (the large 2" one in front), as well as in the eyepiece (4 lenses of two types of high quality plastic, known as a Plossl configuration) to prevent chromatic aberration, producing a clearer image. This is because single lenses, as are often used in cheap scopes, refract light of different colors in different angles (chromatic aberration). In practice this means all images will have blueish blurred edges on one side, reddish on the other, making the image very unclear. By using two types of glass for the two lenses this gets compensated to some degree, resulting in a sharper and clearer image. Depending on the configuration, 4, 6 or 8 lenses are used. The 4-lens configuration results in a telescope in some ways similar to Galileo's, with 17x magnification and a very small field of view. The 6-lens configuration provides 25x magnification, and the 8-lens configuration allows for 50x magnification. The user may easily switch between these configurations by changing the eyepiece.

External links


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