Ross Sackett's amateur telescope making
My telescopes
8" Moonsilver I v.2
Saraguro travelscope
This telescope used the same 8" f/4.5 mirror as Moonsilver I.  I needed a
rugged travel telescope to take to my ethnographic fieldsite at 10,000
feet in the Ecuadorean Andes.  It was based on a preliminary design I
had sketched out before I built the more elegant Moonsilver I, though I
actually built this telescope a month or two later.  It was assembled over a
period of four days and completed just before I left for the field (the paint
was still sticky).

It is made mainly of softwood-core/oak veneer plywood, with a
carbon-fiber tube.  It got a simple paint finish.  The telescope breaks
down to eight components that can be stuffed in carry-on luggage.

The scope went to South America in 2006 and 2008.  Omega Centauri
was spectacular!