Giant Telescope On eBay

This one should be good for some laughs. The offer is "a telescope
over 100 feet (over 30 meters) in diameter ..." Starting price is
$450,000.

http://cgi.ebay.com/GIANT-TELESCOPE-... QcmdZViewItem


Hmm, 8 days and no bids?!?

Tom

Tom Polakis wrote:
This one should be good for some laughs. The offer is "a telescope
over 100 feet (over 30 meters) in diameter ..." Starting price is
$450,000.

http://cgi.ebay.com/GIANT-TELESCOPE-... QcmdZViewItem


Hmm, 8 days and no bids?!?

Tom

Uhh! I'm ready to sell my house to buy this imaginary 100ft telescope
for $450,000.
I can live in it too!
What an investment????!!!!!!
JS

Tom Polakis wrote:
This one should be good for some laughs. The offer is "a telescope
over 100 feet (over 30 meters) in diameter ..." Starting price is
$450,000.

http://cgi.ebay.com/GIANT-TELESCOPE-... QcmdZViewItem


Hmm, 8 days and no bids?!?


Well, there's always that flurry of bids in the last hour :-)

All should read the text at eBay. It's priceless (pun intended).

Tom Polakis wrote:
This one should be good for some laughs. The offer is "a telescope
over 100 feet (over 30 meters) in diameter ..." Starting price is
$450,000.

http://cgi.ebay.com/GIANT-TELESCOPE-... QcmdZViewItem



A minor detail from the text:

"You will need an available piece of land that is several hundred feet
on a side and permission to have 100+ foot high structures. This system
uses a long focal length (hundreds of feet) laid out horizontally along
the ground."

"Phil Wheeler" wrote in message
...
Tom Polakis wrote:
This one should be good for some laughs. The offer is "a telescope
over 100 feet (over 30 meters) in diameter ..." Starting price is
$450,000.

http://cgi.ebay.com/GIANT-TELESCOPE-... QcmdZViewItem



A minor detail from the text:

"You will need an available piece of land that is several hundred feet on
a side and permission to have 100+ foot high structures. This system uses
a long focal length (hundreds of feet) laid out horizontally along the
ground."

Does it come with a crane with which to point it? lol

George

George wrote:
Does it come with a crane with which to point it? lol

No. You must purchase the accompanying 100-foot (minor axis)
EQ-mounted mirror, which is used to direct light from celestial objects
into the horizontally mounted scope. There, it is reflected by a
100-foot (also minor axis) secondary through an angle of 90 degrees
before being collected by the objective, which lies flat. Because of
this configuration, the telescope is only able to view half the sky.

There is also a 450-foot ladder (sold separately) to reach prime focus.
The 8-inch eyepiece is suspended from the tool shelf of the ladder.
(NOT A STEP. DO NOT STEP HERE OR HIGHER.) It's a bit harrowing from
there, but the views are worth it, I hear. I understand that with the
wide views afforded by the 175 mm Panoptic, you can just barely fit
Mare Imbrium into the field. That must be something!

--
Brian Tung
The Astronomy Corner at http://astro.isi.edu/
Unofficial C5+ Home Page at http://astro.isi.edu/c5plus/
The PleiadAtlas Home Page at http://astro.isi.edu/pleiadatlas/
My Own Personal FAQ (SAA) at http://astro.isi.edu/reference/faq.html

I am waiting to bid on this one until the last minute so that I can be sure
to get it. I wonder if it is capable of 600x like the scope that I just saw
at Wall Mart for $100?

"Tom Polakis" wrote in message
oups.com...
This one should be good for some laughs. The offer is "a telescope
over 100 feet (over 30 meters) in diameter ..." Starting price is
$450,000.

http://cgi.ebay.com/GIANT-TELESCOPE-... QcmdZViewItem


Hmm, 8 days and no bids?!?

Tom

"Brian Tung" wrote in message
...
George wrote:
Does it come with a crane with which to point it? lol

No. You must purchase the accompanying 100-foot (minor axis)
EQ-mounted mirror, which is used to direct light from celestial objects
into the horizontally mounted scope. There, it is reflected by a
100-foot (also minor axis) secondary through an angle of 90 degrees
before being collected by the objective, which lies flat. Because of
this configuration, the telescope is only able to view half the sky.

There is also a 450-foot ladder (sold separately) to reach prime focus.
The 8-inch eyepiece is suspended from the tool shelf of the ladder.
(NOT A STEP. DO NOT STEP HERE OR HIGHER.) It's a bit harrowing from
there, but the views are worth it, I hear. I understand that with the
wide views afforded by the 175 mm Panoptic, you can just barely fit
Mare Imbrium into the field. That must be something!

--
Brian Tung
The Astronomy Corner at http://astro.isi.edu/
Unofficial C5+ Home Page at http://astro.isi.edu/c5plus/
The PleiadAtlas Home Page at http://astro.isi.edu/pleiadatlas/
My Own Personal FAQ (SAA) at http://astro.isi.edu/reference/faq.html

So how does he prevent this 100 foot diameter household-grade mirror from
flexing in and out of shape with the slightest change in temperature or
wind conditions? And what about the inherent problems with atmospheric
seeing?

George

George wrote:
So how does he prevent this 100 foot diameter household-grade mirror from
flexing in and out of shape with the slightest change in temperature or
wind conditions? And what about the inherent problems with atmospheric
seeing?

Flubber.

--
Brian Tung
The Astronomy Corner at http://astro.isi.edu/
Unofficial C5+ Home Page at http://astro.isi.edu/c5plus/
The PleiadAtlas Home Page at http://astro.isi.edu/pleiadatlas/
My Own Personal FAQ (SAA) at http://astro.isi.edu/reference/faq.html

"Mij Adyaw" wrote in news:B0%mf.691$z21.339@fed1read04:

I am waiting to bid on this one until the last minute so that I can be
sure to get it. I wonder if it is capable of 600x like the scope that
I just saw at Wall Mart for $100?

I thought I'd bid 0.01 on it as a joke, but the starting bid is $450,000.
LOL.