Creating telescopes with Auke

Auke Slottegraaf was our special guest this week and as always his workshop with the Eco-Rangers proved to be popular. Auke has an exceptional way in which he presents his topic to the group. Although the Leopard and Caracal groups have children ranging from 6 through to 14, Auke delivers the fascinating information in a way in which all can understand and join in.

To add to that, he has a sneaky way in which he weaves snippets of humor into the workshop bringing laughter and smiles to all . . . including the parents who join in. Learning about the universe with Auke is a fun filled and memorable experience one should not miss out on.

To begin with, Auke covered the 9 points one needs to know to be an astronomer. The most important fact being that Astronomy is fantastic and fun! Other pointers were the Universe is BIG and yet it is small. It is heavy and lightweight. It is hot and cold. It is dark and light. It is all maths and maths is fun. Life is full of maths. Our world is full of maths. The universe is full of stars. We are all stars.

After a quick discussion, it was time to begin work on an exciting project where each child was to make their very own Telescope. This simple telescope design was based on the telescope created by Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei at the beginning of the 17th century. This was a fun filled exercise for all the children and the parents.

A Galilean telescope is very simple with only one tube and two lenses. The one the Eco-Rangers created consisted of three card tubes (different sizes so as to fit into each other) with two lenses, one placed at either end. The eyepiece is a simple flat lens. At the other end is the objective lens, a concave-convex lens, which curves inward on one side and outward on the other. The convex side faces outward. Although this home made telescope is limited by its small field of view, one can explore the universe, study the moon and in the long term, it might well inspire a beginner to take a deeper interest in the stars and begin to unlock the secrets of the universe. It is a perfect way to introduce our children to the night sky.

Oh and before I sign off here . . . our Eco-Ranger Telescopes were extra special. Well at least some of them were. Inside the card tubes were specially created cross hairs to help with focusing and navigation. Now very few home made telescopes have these. Why did these ones have this unique feature? Well . . . Auke had commissioned his spiders to spin cross hairs for us. Apparently they had been at work for some time and even better, they were spun in strong steel twine. Clever spiders!

Finally, if you want to spend more time under the night skies and make use of your telescope . . . why not head on to Bonnievale for a Southern Star party.

More info here:
http://www.southernstarparty.org/