Construction of an 8" f/6 Newtonian Telescope

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I spent months searching for a good telescope. By "good telescope" I mean something that you won't find at a local department store, something that isn't made of cardboard and plastic. Everything that I learned seemed to point to one inescapable conclusion, namely that perfection is expensive. So, I set out, undeterred, to build something that I would be proud to own. This page is a chronicle of that effort. By the way, Freizeit Optik is German for "Spare-Time Optics," I thought it an appropriate title.

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Update

The telescope described in this document saw it's first light on Septermber 6, 2000 -- over two years in the making. While collimation is not yet perfect, I'm sure that any bugs in the system will be worked out soon. For my first venture into realm of ATMs, i'm quite pleased. This telescope focused light from Arcturus to a pin-point on the first try. What a relief!

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Contents

• Suppliers
• Components
• System Specifications

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Home

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�1999 Jonathan Tomshine. Everything contained herein should be consdered incorrect because I have never done this before and probably have a much poorer understanding of telescopes than I think I do.