Cahill Rooftop Observatory

Equipment Database - Galileoscope

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Galileoscope
Optical SystemAchromat
Mount TypeAltazimuth
Aperture 50 mm
Focal Length500 mm
f-Ratio10.0
Rear Cell1.25"
Max FOV3.6°
Finder
Finder FOV

The two Galileoscopes are by far our smallest telescopes. Galileoscopes were designed for the International Year of Astronomy to be cheap, easily portable, yet still produce respectable images. These scopes are great for school demonstrations – just make sure the kids understand that, though they be made of plastic, they're not toys!

True to its name, the Galileoscope is limited to Galileo's classic targets: the Moon, Jupiter, and Saturn. Anything else will be either too faint or too hard to find. Use the Galileoscope to give people their first look at the sky, or consider taking the nearly as portable Questar instead.

The Galileoscope is mounted on a light camera tripod. The altazimuth mount means targets are much more difficult to track than with other telescopes – you must find the target anew every time you make an adjustment. The tripod is also quite prone to vibrations, so take care that no one touches or jostles the telescope.