The two telescopes attributive to Galileo now at IMSS in Florence Italy and the two precise replicas we made of them.

Telescope #1 This web page has our details of  the replication of Galileo's experimental telescope which we made For Adler's Planetarium. You can see the original at Florance Italy. IMSS INV # 2427

Original Telescopes at   IMSS Florence Italy

Telescope #2  Click here to go to  the  web site  which has the details of the replication  of Galileo's  red leather presentation style  telescope that we made For Griffith Observatory. You can see the  original at IMSS at Florance Italy.  IMSS INV # 2428 Click Here to see the start of a page about another historically significant  instrument found at IMSS

Below is a typical  photo of a set of over a  100 taken by the authors of Galileo's Number 1 and 2 telescopes at the lovely IMSS in Florence Italy. The one below is  of the objective end of the original  number 1 scope. It shows  the main barrel is made  from two halves of wood . In addition to shows the two halves glued and   wired together and covered with paper which has been painted and falling  off. It shows the scraping of the wood surface by the builder. We used  it to help to establish a set of the dimensions which we have used in  comparing it  with  replicas made by Cipriani ref #1. and in building our replica.

Below photos, drawings, and roughed out blanks of the objective and eyepiece for our replica compared to the original IMSS INV 2427,  Ref #1,3,4

Discussions of dimensions: In the process of making the Replica of Galileo #1 telescope for Adler Planetarium We have been making  comparisons of  data from five  sources for the physical dimensions of the instrument to get the  highest assurance  within  our grasp to make as faithful replication  of the Galileo telescopes to within our resources. 1, We have our photos and measurements which  we made of the orginal telescopes in Florence the last quarter of 2005. 2, We have  photos of the originals taken by the IMSS staff,  3, There is the data from Van Helden ref 2 IMSS inv. # 2427 which give measurements and  photos. The latter  may  also have come from IMSS staff.  These data tend to agree with our photos, measurements for number 1 telescope IMSS inv. # 2427,  and IMSS photos. But We have noted differences  when comparing  Van Helden's  measurements of the eyepiece and the overall length  of the  telescope  number 2, IMSS inv #2428  the  leather telescope. A 4th and 5th sources We have  data  once removed from the original from two replicas made by Cipriani  c 1920-1940 who had access to the original instruments. These data not only gives us information about the original instruments as it might have looked at that time but has given us the opportunity  to measure  Cipriani reproducibly in copying them. . We have found differences in two of his replicas which we are not comfortable with. The latter is  interesting  because  Cipriani replicas telescopes are being used  to make other replicas that show up in museum's and popular literature. We have measured and photographed last quarter 2005  the replica made by Cipriani for Adler Planetarium and Museum. c 1930 to, I believe to celebrate the planetarium opening? We are using data from a 1939 paper by Edison Pettit Astronomical Society Of  The Pacific. Pettit says it is  a drawing of a replica made by Cipriani at Arcetri brought to Pasadena by Dr Hale 1923. One would hope that Cipriani would have taken greater care in this replication because it was being made for a famous astronomer. A typical comparison of these data for the objective.  is shown  in the photo at the right. The top image is from our photos of the original. The second has been taken by The IMSS The third is from our photos  of the Cipriani in Adler's Planetarium and Museum We have over laid on these photos line drawings from the work of  Pettit of Hale's replica by Cipriani. Our choice of dimensions  are being taken where possible from data of the original, The difference noted are in the  1%, or 1 mm range. It is interesting to see how  close Cipriani's Hale replica's come to our photo of the original. There are  differences between  the individual replicas when compare  to each other. The Adler Cipriani is longer  and smaller in diameter at the junction point between the lens holder and the sliding tube  than the data from the original and the drawings in Pettit's paper.

 

Eyepiece; The same treatment type of comparison as the objective 1e, comparison We have overlaid each photo  with a drawing  from  a 1939 paper by Edison Pettit Astronomical Society Of The Pacific. This is a photo of  the eyepiece of the Adler Cipriani  Replica Galileo #2 2e, A photo outline of  the original eyepiece from a photo by IMSS We  used the IMSS comparison. in length the rest are in good agreement.




Reproduced here is a copy of a drawing  from a paper by Edison Pettit, published in the Astronomical Society of the Pacific 51 (June 1939) 147-150. (#301)  (replica by Cipriani presumably for Dr. Hale of Pasadena Ca. ). There are different in these drawing from our measurements especially the insertion lengths  and diameters of the insertion tubes some which are  noted above  in the figures and with those described in ref 2,   There are difference in th number and composition of the wires holding the telescope together.  Ref 6, Damage  to the objective tube recently restored.

Direct comparison of the surface  detail of the objective end of Adler's  Cipriani replica with the orginal at IMSS Florence .    The original  looks as though it had a rough finish with  lots of scrape marks on the visible wood which was covered with paper to hide it.  It looks like the two halves of the barrel came un-glued and  were wired together with the wire on top of the paper. The original has  extra material semi transparent covering  the wires . The original has a semi gloss shine to it on the wood , the Adler has a dark stain but no top- finish The colors are somewhat different.

 

--A video carving out the barrel of the IMSS # 2427telescope-With a wood plane


Using the telescopes indoors

Can one use Galileo's two telescopes in doors? Yes depending on the size of the room.   Even though most everyone  knows that telescopes are generally used to bring thing that are far away closer, that the closer the object is the further one has to pull out the eyepiece  to focus on that object. Of course the distance one can pull out the eyepiece  before it falls out of the telescope is limited to how long it is. The graph below  gives us the information for the shortest distance the object can be from the front of the telescope The bottom graph   shows the diameter of an object which would  fill the field of view seen in the telescope versus distance from the telescope.


Photos of the Number 1 telescope before applying the paper and wires

Objective End

and

Eyepiece End

 

Optics, Projects 1 and 2 Click here  for a diatribe on accuracy of the optics

We're using the specifications for the optics as described in the Reference  by Greco etal., Applied Optics 1 Nov 1993 / Vol. 32, No. 31.
The objective is a biconvex lens with a focal length of 1330 mm and  a diameter of 51 mm. and a plano concave lens with a focal length of -94.0 and a diameter of 26 mm..

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  Above and below Our Foucault lens testing apparatus

  Optical diagram of lens testing apparatus Close up of the lens holder and optical flat We tested the polishing machine using a 2 inch diameter 1/8" thick plane glass blank. with 4 minutes of polishing we took off about 46.4 millionths of an inch and converted it to a convex surface. The photo above shows the interferogram of our glass blank with the interference lines use to get this measurement. It's going in the right direction with reasonable speed. All we have to do is get good spherical surface and not overshoot the focal length of 980 mm. Close up of the light source and the knife edge Lens Grinding/Polishing Machine   Lens polishing /grinding machine that we've put together for this project.  We are going to use it in an attempt to polish down the focal length of the 1000mm lenses to 980 mm.   Telescope mounts for our replicas. The philosophy behind their design  and the details of construction. Click on the picture above  to see the construction details of the tripod we made for Adler Planetarium. It is vaguely similar to those used in the 1600's. There is no polar mount modern bearings azimuth and altitude rings, and  the solidness. We did added a simple fine motion control of our design  for those who are tired of roughing it as Galileo did just to home in on an  image and track it. Click on the photo above  to see the simple construction details of a mount we designed to hold both of our replicas on to a modern refractor with its  polar mount , aiming scope, slow motion controls,  azimuth and altitude rings. It useful for the observer to get a quick comparison between 1610 and today technologies . one can quickly compare the four telescopes in terns of brightness, field of view, the an  range of image distortions. This is of course at the expense of loosing the tough realism that Galileo faced with out all the modern  improvements including bearings etc.

Notes and References

A Telescope of Galileo by Edison Pettit  Astronomical Society Of The Pacific. 51 (June 1939) 147-150. Catalogue of early telescopes ISTITUTO E MUSEO DISTORIA DELLA SCIENZA  Albert Van Helden1999 Photo's and measurements taken at IMSS  fall 2005 by Jim & Rhoda Morris Photos and measurements taken by Jim Morris at Adler Planetarium & Museum Chicago Ill. fall 2005 Replicas of Two Galileo Telescopes by David Baxandall, 1924 Trans Opt. Soc. 25 141-144 Telescopes of Galileo, V. Greco, G Molesini, F Qoercioli Nov 1993/ Vol. 32 No. 31 applied Optics 6219-6226 Optical Tests of Galileo's Lenses by V. Greco, G Molesini and,  F Qoercioli b Nature vol 358 1992  101 A Galilean telescope  by S.D. Ringwood Q.J.R. Soc. (1994), 35, 43-50 Sidereus Nuncius Galileo Galilei Translated by Albert Van Helden1989 Univ of Chicago. p91  Galileo estimates the number of telescopes he made or had made as 60. We of course are operating with information we have accumulated to date some 400 years after the fact. We discuss this issue in some detail further on our web sites.

Click on symbol The three dimensions of science without them there is only darkness. There Are No Words Powerful Enough to Express the Importance of Basic Scientific Research: however, Galileo Galilei, using his scientific intuition, has shown us a way of looking behind the scenes seeing  the untold world of science,  a world very few have ever explored. Galilean Syndrome. Definitions from The American Heritage Dictionary Science;     The observation, identification, description, experimental investigation, and theoretical explanation of phenomena. (The Rules of science) Mathematics;    The study of the measurement, properties, and relationships of quantities, using numbers and symbols.  (The language of science) Document 1.a. A written or printed paper that bears the original, official, or legal form of something and can be used to furnish decisive evidence or information. b. Something, such as a recording  a photograph, ( text, equations, sketch, drawing, schematic etc. ) that can be used to furnish evidence or information. c. A writing that contains information. (The product of a basic research scientist's ). http://www.scitechantiques.com/basic1/

 

We are Antiques of Science & Technology Historical Instruments & Books of Science & Technology  Science & Engineering Works of Art For Sale and Loan Jim & Rhoda Morris  781 245 2897 mailto:JimRhoda@Comcast.net   <OUR INVENTORY INCLUDES----Microscopes---Telescope---Spectroscopes---Calculating Devices---Steam Engine---Surveying ---Navigating Instrument---Octants---Sextants---Transits---Crystal &amp; Tube Radios---Planetriums---Eye Glasses--- Chemical apparetus---Electrostatic Generators---</FONT></H4>

Copyright 12/15/2006 by Jim & Rhoda Morris