Architecture of Grace
← The telescope

The Telescope, in pictures

Six missions. Each one opens the next. Every picture below is the real telescope.

iWhat everything is

The eyepiece is on the left. Every control is in the panel on the right, and the knobs are under the eyepiece.

The whole telescope: the eyepiece view, the knobs, and the control panel.
The whole bench. The circle is what you see through the eyepiece.
Lens cap buttons.Lens capOff to see anything.
Mount buttons.MountLocked holds the sky still.
Eyepiece buttons.Eyepiece25 mm is the widest and easiest. 6 mm is the biggest.
Barlow buttons.BarlowDoubles the size. Not the detail.
Target buttons.TargetWhat you point at. Tapping one centers it.
Sky buttons.SkyNight, rising, day or setting — for the Moon.
Reticle buttons.ReticleA ruler in the eyepiece. Measure uses it.
The Coarse knob.CoarseBig focus moves.
The Fine knob.FineSmall focus moves. Use it after changing eyepieces.
The Eyepiece knob.Eyepiece (knob)Turns the eyepiece. Finds dust on the glass.
The Missions buttons.Missions (teacher)Locked opens one control at a time. Lock it before a student sits down.

How big? 900 ÷ the eyepiece. 25 mm = 36× · 10 mm = 90× · 6 mm = 150×.

1Make the telescope work Mission

Cap off. Lock the mount. 25 mm. Coarse focus on the Moon.

1Lens cap Off.Cap: OffPress Off.
2Mount Locked.Mount: LockedPress Locked.
3Eyepiece 25 mm.25 mmStart on the widest.
4The Coarse knob.CoarseSlide it until the corner says In focus.
A black circle; the cap is on.Cap onBlack. Take the cap off.
The Moon sliding toward the edge.Mount looseThe sky walks out of the circle. Lock the mount.
A blurry Moon.Out of focusKeep sliding Coarse.
A sharp Moon at 36x.In focusThe whole Moon fits. Done.

2See more Mission

10 mm, then 6 mm. Every eyepiece change throws the focus off — fix it with Fine.

The Moon at 90x.10 mm = 90×The Moon no longer fits.
The Moon at 150x, blurry.6 mm, blurryChanging the eyepiece moved the focus.
The Moon at 150x, sharp craters.6 mm, sharpFine knob. Craters.

3Change what you see Mission

Target: Jupiter, then Orion. Use the 10 mm or the 6 mm.

Jupiter as a small dot at 90x with moons.Jupiter, whole viewSmall, even at 90×. Look in the middle.
Close-up of Jupiter: a striped bead.Jupiter, close-upA striped bead.
The Orion nebula: a gray cloud.OrionA gray cloud and four stars.

The colors in the famous photos come from hours of camera time. Your eye sees gray.

4Measure Mission

Reticle: Measure. Tap two points at 90× or 150×.

Reticle buttons.Reticle: MeasureThen tap two points. Don’t drag.
The reticle across the Moon with two taps.Two tapsRead the answer in arcseconds (″).

5What can’t this telescope see? Mission

Target: The sea — where they landed. 6 mm. In focus.

The landing sea at 150x: craters and no lander.The landing sea at 150×Look as hard as you like. There is no lander.

The honest ceiling

The lander is 0.002″ across from here. This telescope can split about 1.3″. That is hundreds of times too small. Bigger magnification does not change it.

6The research bench Mission

Albireo splits. The 1.0″ pair does not. The Barlow makes the smear bigger.

Albireo: a gold star and a blue star.Albireo, 90×Two stars: gold and blue. It splits.
The 1.0 arcsecond pair: one dot.The pair, 150×One dot. 1.0″ is under the 1.3″ limit.
The pair with the Barlow: one bigger dot.The pair + Barlow, 300×Bigger. Still one. Larger is not finer.

The pictures above are close-ups of the middle of the eyepiece.

!The Sun: only with the filter on the front

NEVER

A black circle: the cap stays on.No filterThe cap stays on. An unfiltered Sun burns the eye.
The Sun through the front filter, with sunspots.Solar filter: FrontNow it is safe. Those dark spots are sunspots.
The warning the telescope shows when the Sun has no filter.What the screen saysPress Front to put the safe filter on.
Solar filter buttons.Solar filterOnly Front. A filter in the eyepiece can crack.
REAL LIFE: never point a real telescope or binoculars at the Sun without a proper solar filter on the front. Ask an adult.

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