Make Simple Digital Telescope

Build your own high range telescope, using Webcam, PVC pipes and a scrap camera lens.
Requirements:

TELESCOPE
1. Lens (Long focal length)
2. Webcam CCD circuit
3. 50mm camera lens
4. 60/50mm (Diameter) PVC pipe and joints

TRIPOD
1. 20/25mm (Diameter) PVC pipe/Joints
2. Nut & bolts
3. Mount

Construction:
1. At first select a long  focal length lens, better to use compound lens to avoid chromatic aberration. Here I used high range binocular lens, focal length is 180mm.

2. Next pick a 50mm SLR camera lens ( I have used 50mm SMC Pentax-A) and remove all the lens elements from it and keep only aperture mechanism, this is used as aperture to control the light.

3. Fix the selected lens in front of the camera lens hood, this will act as fine tune focusing (Secondary focusing). And fix about 4 inches length 50mm pipe at rear. (if u have Pantax-A lens, it fits inside 50mm pipe)

4. Take 50mm pipe joint and scratch its inner surface (to increase its inner diameter, about 2mm) so that 50mm pipe moves freely forward and backward , this is act as primary focusing.

5. Take a 60mm pipe , fix its joint at the rear end and fix the 50mm joint  inside at other end. The length of the 60mm pipe you should keep according to the focal length of lens that you have selected.

6. Cut a 60mm dia foam sheet ( or similar material) and fix webcam circuit , its ccd sensor should be at the centre of foam sheet. Make the ccd area maximum dark , perpendicularly about an 35mm from ccd make 2-3mm hole, this act as secondary aperture.

 (Checkout construction schematic, step -10)

50mm lens hood with aperture after remove all the lens element.

Webcam CCD circuit and a light proof mask.

Making CCD complete dark. 

1. Take 50mm pipe joint and scratch its inner surface (to increase its inner diameter, about 2mm) so that 50mm pipe moves freely forward and backward , this is act as primary focusing.

2. Take a 60mm pipe , fix its joint at the rear end and fix the 50mm joint inside at other end. The length of the 60mm pipe you should keep according to the focal length of lens that you have selected.

 Lens fixing

Telescope and tripod

The distance between the telescope and tower is around 200-250 mtrs.

These are the photographs captured in my telescope by adjusting aperture and focus. 

Capturing moon at night, not upto the mark, :-( but next time i will try with longer focal length lens.... 

The schematic of my telescope.
First one: Construction
Second one: It works just like cropping an image, here from the alphabetic array letter 'M' is cropped using secondary aperture. 

You can also build it using Tele-lens.