God tier telescopes. I'll start. The Celestron 21064 AstroMaster 90 EQ Refractor Telescope is God

What is the biggest telescope you have used?

I want to read a book on optics and make my own microscope or telescope. How implausible is this?Any recommendations on literature?

youtube.com/watch?v=snz7JJlSZvw

"If you have read this far and still dream of big-aperture views, then let your mind spin free for a few moments. The sky is clear. Leaving a note for your spouse not to disturb you in the

morning, you escape with your big telescope to your favorite dark site. You set it up and carefully tweak the primary into perfect collimation. As your eyes dark-adapt, you drink a cup of

hot coffee and the mirror cools. The pink glow of sunset fades in the west and the glorious panorama of a perfect Milky Way unfolds overhead.

You pick an NGC object from Sky Atlas 2000.0 and patiently star-hop over to it. You take that first long look and drink it in. Wow, you think, it feels good to be observing tonight. You

open Uranometria 2000.0 to the object in the eyepiece and star-hop to whatever galaxies happen to be nearby. After a couple more obscure galaxies, a PK planetary, and a faint globular, you

realize it will take at least three more nights to finish off just one page. With more than 470 charts, you know you'll never run out.

The hours speed by and the sky swings to the west. New constellations rise in the east. You "discover" a few new deep-sky objects for your personal list and feel a sense of satisfaction

knowing that only a handful of people have ever viewed them through an eyepiece.

You realize that a familiar Messier object has risen, but when you look, you're almost knocked off the ladder it's so bright. As the soft glow of dawn touches the eastern sky, you finally

look at Jupiter. It totally blows away your night vision, but the seeing has gotten really good and the detailed image of the planet makes the whole night seem worthwhile. You pack up and

drive home feeling great.

Does this describe you? If it does, then forget every caution we've raised. Go for gold and build the telescope of your dreams."

We have a 300mm astrograph in proto stages, we tested it in florida and found ~500 previously discovered near earth objects (in one night). I hardly ever observe, desu.

It is very plausible. If you plan to do the glass yourself, you can buy blanks and shape them with "oldschool" methods that don't really require machines, just patience and good planning.

Lots of great books out there, check out:
How to Make a Telescope - Jean Texereau
-full design. this has many further references.

Telescope Optics - Rutten and van Venrooij
-specifically optics

The History of the Telescope - Henry C. King
-history

Holy moly, thanks guys! I've just been dreaming but barely researched the topic, I didn't know it has been made this accessible.

Thanks for including the history book as well. And thanks to the other user for the inspiration, I'll check out the video soon.

If one is able to do this, is a microscope doable as well? Or does that for example have a higher requirement for precision?

I can only intermittently get back to this thread unfortunately, I have an exam tomorrow.

What's a good brand for a beginner 5 inch reflector?

not OP, but this video is a great find. thank you for sharing! I'm actually inspired to try this out for myself.

El bump

What is your budget?

$200 - $300

Newtonian reflector master race
Especially celestron astromaster 130EQ

i would recommend 15cm - 20cm reflector with dobson mount.