Curiosity
DIY 6" Newtonian Reflector Telescope
Get picks like this daily. Today's launch numbers, the top launches, AI and tech news, and a daily opportunity pick, straight to your inbox.
Want to reach these readers? Sponsor an issue.
A DIY Newtonian reflector telescope with dobsonian mount. A fun to do hobby project taking us closer to the moon and beyond. A lot of plans ahead on how to make it much better and portable but this was the first time me and my friend implemented or rather built a telescope.Have a look at what all we have captured.
HN · launched Mar 8, 2026 · 81 upvotes (top 11%) · 0 views
Niche: aerospace and space exploration technology · 46 launches, 1 in the last 7 days · Explore this niche →
Category and tags
- Horizontal
- Hardware & robotics
- Prosumer
- Not AI
- Hobby / open-source project
Visit website ↗ Source listing ↗
More like this: all 46 launches in aerospace and space exploration technology →
Could you build this?
No This is a physical DIY optical telescope project involving physical mirror fabrication, optical alignment, and mechanical Dobson mounts.
What it would actually take: Requires optical engineering, mechanical design, precision physical fabrication (cutting, grinding/polishing glass optics, aluminization), and carpentry or 3D manufacturing to build a rigid Dobsonian mount and optical tube assembly.
Discussion
20 comments analyzed.
Competitors mentioned: Commercial hobby scopes ($100-200 range), Printables telescope designs (Wallace, Gromit, travel truss dobs), Traditional wooden telescope builds
Concerns raised: Cheaper commercial scopes are shoddy quality, Portability/weight makes solo setup difficult, Assembly complexity and time investment, Website/project documentation currently unavailable
Feature requests: Improved portability with better bag straps and carrying system, Reduce assembly complexity (currently requires more than two hands), Add solar filters for sun observation, Guidance on selecting appropriate 3D printers for telescope projects
Competitors
Other products that read as similar to this one : 53 launches clear the similarity bar, closest 8 shown.
Attention rank: #7 of 54 (itself plus its competitors, highest first, normalized so YC and Product Hunt are compared fairly).
Launched 118 days after the earliest competitor.
- Buy Telescopes & Binoculars Online · ph · 2026-11-12 · 1 upvotes · similarity 0.53
- Buy Telescope for Kids | The Pie Matrix · ph · 2026-11-04 · 1 upvotes · similarity 0.50
- Buy Telescope Under 10000 · ph · 2026-11-12 · 1 upvotes · similarity 0.50
- AstroHelm · hn · 2026-10-04 · 93 upvotes · similarity 0.44
- Elite Telescopes · ph · 2026-09-10 · 1 upvotes · similarity 0.43
- NASA's Swift telescope's 22 years in orbit, rebuilt from its archive · hn · 2026-11-06 · 5 upvotes · similarity 0.38
- SpaceSift · ph · 2026-10-12 · 1 upvotes · similarity 0.36
- orbital-laser · github · 2026-10-22 · 28 upvotes · similarity 0.36
The niche, labels, vibe code rating and competitor comparison on this page are analysis by Nicheloom. If you use them, please credit nicheloom.com. How you may use our data.