One late night in December 2007, I got a phone call from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. The caller told me that he heard my lecture about Telescope making, and asked me if I would be interested in fixing an old telescope that they have.
I asked who was the original owner of the telescope? The answer was... Einstein.
Albert? I asked?
Yes. It was His telescope which he donated to the University many years ago. He wanted the children of Israel to look through this telescope and discover the wonderful science of Astronomy.
At the beginning of 2008, I got the project.
The telescope was originally built by Zvi Gezari, an engineer that lived in NY.
The telescope is a reflector. The main mirror is 8" diameter. Its focal ratio is approximately f/8.8.
The mirror was made by Gezari in 1952 (signed by him) in the Hyden Planetarium, NY. Other parts of the telescope were made fron German artillery Cannons that served in 2nd World War. From Gesari Point of view it was "They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks." Isaiah 2:4.
The telescope was given to Einstein in the same year. The event is described on the here.
The telescope before reconstruction
The coondition of the telescope before the restoration was bad.
The main mirror was so dirty that one could hardy see that it was a piece of glass. Nobody believed it could be used as an astronomical mirror.
Mirror covered with dust...
The secondary mirror and the spider (the device that holds the secondary mirror) were absent.
Also the finder discovered as unusable.
While restoring, the main mirror was washed with water and after about 30 minutes of washing it was clear that we will still would be able to use it for planetary observations.
Mirror after cleaning
After some calculations, a new spider and a secondary mirror were purchased and assembled on the telescope.
The original finder was left on it's place for historical reasons, and an additional Telrad finder was added.
The new spider in it's place
Bonding Secondary mirror to it's holder
The focuser was re-lathed and a new adaptor for contemporary eyepieces were made by Mr. Gilad Rotem.
On the evening of June 17, 2008 the telescope was taken outside of the building to do a "first light" observation.
We were able to see beautiful scenes of moon craters and the rings of Saturn.
Pictures from Einstein Telescope Inauguration
A Chicago Tribune News Item 24 September 2008
A "Ynet" (Web Edition of the largest Israeli newspaper) news item about the scope
A Deccan Herald News Item about the Telescope
A TV News item about the telescope
Mission accomplished!
Eden Orion
