Lurie-Houghton Telescope Project

Around May of 1999 I started thinking about designing and building my own telescope. I got the idea while reading Telescope Optics - Evaluation and Design by Harrie Rutten and Martin ven Rooij. This book shows the designs and optical characteristics of a large variety of telescope types. I really liked the Lurie-Houghton design which uses a spherical primary mirror and a full aperture doublet corrector lens to eliminate the spherical aberration, coma, and flatten the image plane. I hadn't considered building a telescope until I read about this design which really sparked my interest.

This web site is a contribution to the amateur telescope making (ATM) community and documents the telescope design, provide photos and general information of the project, and a running review of the telescope's performance as I use it. So, come visit again in the future.

PHOTO: Lurie-Houghton Telescope I took the telescope to the 2001 RTMC Astronomy Expo, otherwise known as the Riverside Telescope Makers Conference, which is held every Memorial Day weekend near Big Bear Lake, California. The telescope was awarded one of the merit awards given out that year.

The photo on the left is of the LH scope at the 2015 All-Arizona Messier Marathon.

GRAPHIC: RTMC Merit Award 2001

Technical Information

Design Article for the Lurie-Houghton Telescope Lurie-Houghton Telescope Design Equations
Lurie-Houghton Telescope Testing and Use Review of OSLO LT V5.4 Design Software

Photo and Info Gallery

Zoe with Aluminum Tube Zoe with Aluminum Stock
Raw Aluminum Tube on Losmandy Mount Zoe and Secondary Sleeve Parts
Secondary Retaining Nut on Lathe (Front) Jacob with Lens Blanks
Secondary Holder Assembly (Front) Secondary Holder Assembly (Back)
Corrector Cell Frame on the Lathe Corrector Cell Frame
Corrector Cell Frame with Spacer Nearly completed Corrector Cell
Primary Cell Mounting Ring Jacob with Primary Cell Mounting Ring
Focuser and finder scope on unpainted tube Blower fan in telescope tube
Primary mirror mount yoke Primary mirror collimation adjuster
Secondary mirror and mount Fans and focuser, an insider view
Astrositall Mirror Blank Grinding one of the lenses
Corrector Lens Assembly Corrector and Secondary Assembly
First Light in Page, Arizona Primary mirror on its yoke
Jacob with painted corrector assembly The painted corrector assembly
The assemble scope on its mount Oblique view of the front
A close view into the front A close view of the rear
Rick & Scope at the 2001 All-Arizona Messier Marathon Plaques and Focuser on the Lurie-Houghton
Lurie-Houghton Telescope at the 2015 All-Arizona Messier Marathon

Rick Scott's Natural Images Home Page

Updated: November 7, 2004, March 25, 2014, December 14, 2017