How to Make a Simple Telescope

Step 1Acquire a pair of lenses - a large convex lens and a small concave one. (Convex lenses are thicker in the center than at the edge; concave ones are thinner in the center.)

Step 2Find two cardboard tubes that will allow one to slide inside the other.

Step 3Figure out how far apart the lenses should be by looking through the smaller lens while holding the larger one out in front of you. When you can focus on an object in the distance, measure how far it is between the two lenses.

Step 4Double that measurement. The length of the two tubes should be about this long.

Step 5Fasten the larger lens on one end of the wider tube. Hot glue is good for this.

Step 6Mount the smaller lens at the opening of the smaller tube. This is the eyepiece.

Step 7Build a gasket from cardboard or Styrofoam if the tube opening is larger than the lens.

Step 8Make sure the lenses line up with each other. The centers should be in the centers of the tubes and the lenses should be parallel with each other.




Tips & Warnings
Magnifying glasses are convex lenses.
The best type of lenses are a low-power convex lens and a higher-powered concave one.
Ask at an optical shop for discarded lenses.
If you can't see anything or only pick up part of an object when looking through the telescope, check the lens alignment.
Don't look at the sun through these lenses.

Crashing Comets Not Likely The Cause Of Earth's Mass Extinctions

Scientists have debated how many mass extinction events in Earth's history were triggered by a space body crashing into the planet's surface. Most agree that an asteroid collision 65 million years ago brought an end to the age of dinosaurs, but there is uncertainty about how many other extinctions might have resulted from asteroid or comet collisions with Earth.

Synchronized Swimming Of Algae

Using high-speed cinematography, scientists at Cambridge University have discovered that individual algal cells can regulate the beating of their flagella in and out of synchrony in a manner that controls their swimming trajectories. Their research was published on the 24th July in the journal Science.

Wind Estimate 'Shortens' Saturn's Day By Five Minutes

A new way of detecting how fast large gaseous planets are rotating suggests Saturn’s day lasts 10 hours, 34 minutes and 13 seconds – over five minutes shorter than previous estimates that were based on the planet’s magnetic fields.

'Brain-reading' Methods Developed

It is widely known that the brain perceives information before it reaches a person’s awareness. But until now, there was little way to determine what specific mental tasks were taking place prior to the point of conscious awareness.

After Dinosaurs, Mammals Rise But Their Genomes Get Smaller

Evidence buried in the chromosomes of animals and plants strongly suggests only one group -- mammals -- have seen their genomes shrink after the dinosaurs' extinction. What's more, that trend continues today, say Indiana University Bloomington scientists in the first issue of a new journal, Genome Biology and Evolution.

Earliest Animals Lived In A Lake Environment, Research Shows

Evidence for life on Earth stretches back billions of years, with simple single-celled organisms like bacteria dominating the record. When multi-celled animal life appeared on the planet after 3 billion years of single cell organisms, animals diversified rapidly.