V
MAKING AND USING A TELESCOPE
The impression is quite common that satisfactory views of the
heavenly bodies can be obtained only with very large telescopes,
and that the owner of a small one must stand at a great
disadvantage alongside of the fortunate possessor of a great one.
This is not true to the extent commonly supposed. Sir William
Herschel would have been delighted to view the moon through what
we should now consider a very modest instrument; and there are
some objects, especially the moon, which commonly present a more
pleasing aspect through a small telescope than through a large
one. The numerous owners of small telescopes throughout the
country might find their instruments much more interesting than
they do if they only knew what objects were best suited to
examination with the means at their command. There are many
others, not possessors of telescopes, who would like to know how
one can be acquired, and to whom hints in this direction will be
valuable. We shall therefore give such information as we are able
respecting the construction of a telescope, and the more
interesting celestial objects to which it may be applied.
Whether the reader does or does not feel competent to undertake
the making of a telescope, it may be of interest to him to know
how it is done.
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