Physics – Optics
Scientific paper
Jan 2010
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2010aas...21521001p&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #215, #210.01; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 42, p.417
Physics
Optics
Scientific paper
The value of an inexpensive telescope that could be constructed and used at night became clear in the planning process for the International Year of Astronomy 2009. In fact, it became a national and international priority to develop such a telescope. Thus was born the Galileoscope project, as it later became known. We tested nearly every department store telescope available and finding them wanting in some major aspect, project members developed and tested a series of prototypes of refracting telescope kits.
A key to the project is that the telescope is professionally designed and engineered with its design informed by extensive usability testing to ensure that it can be used easily by people of all ages. The eyepiece has excellent eye relief, for example, so that one can observe with glasses. The primary image quality requirement was that the telescope be good enough to see the rings of Saturn, as well as the Galilean satellites of Jupiter, with a field of view large enough to view the entire Pleiades. The Galileoscope is an ideal telescope to reproduce the observations of Galileo, from any place bright city or dark rural site.
For the science classroom, we have developed well-tested educational materials on observing with the Galileoscope and teaching optics with it, available in pdf format on the Web site www. galileoscope.org. The educational materials are standards-based and appropriate for high school and beginning-level physics classes. Some of the key project decisions will be described and the future directions of the project will be described. This work was supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation Astronomy Division. NOAO is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA), Inc. under cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation.
Arion Douglas N.
Pompea Stephen M.
Tresch Fienberg Richard
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