Build Your Own Dobsonian Telescope

I love posting do-it-yourself projects, because sooner or later someone I know will actually build one of these things without me having to do any of the work. Sadly, I fear they'll probably choose to build an atomic bomb, not realizing I was only kidding. Oh, well. We didn't really need Newark, anyway.

Now, back to something a bit more celestial -- building your own Dobsonian telescope. The term Dobsonian was coined a few years ago to describe Newtonian telescopes built using the affordable techniques and plans championed by John Dobson (see the SFSA link below). They require only a few weeks of your spare time, and the end result will be an eight or ten inch telescope that looks great perched on your apartment balcony. If you're careful, you'll discover that a home-built telescope can outperform commercial scopes costing thousands of dollars. Just be sure to invite me over for some stargazing, OK?

Dobsonian telescope plans (San Francisco Sidewalk Astronomers)
A nice telescope construction walk-through (Moonlight Systems)