And Yet, It (Still) Moves
Utterly cool geek-project: the Galileoscope! 2009 is the official “International Year of Astronomy”. In support, the International Astronomical Union (major professional organization for astronomers) has designed and manufactured super-low-cost small refractor telescopes similar to Galileo’s original (but corrected for chromatic aberration – so even better!), for wide distribution to encourage interest in astronomy. The ’scopes are designed to be assemblable and usable by young children, but are more-than-decent quality. They have cheap but well-designed plastic tubes and good multi-element lenses – they’re not the crap spyglass ’scopes you find in toy stores. (Though, to be sure, there’s a limit to what you can expect from them.) They even have tripod mounts.
Cool thing is, you can not only buy one for yourself for $15 plus shipping, but you can also donate one at $12.50 and free shipping; IAU will bundle the donated ’scopes up and distribute them to places that can put them to good use, especially schools and third-world communities.
Great program. Great price. Check it out.
[...] you have any interest in stargazing, KTK at Lean Left notes that $15 [plus shipping and handling] scores The Galileoscope™, an inexpensive instrument [...]