Teens’ hand-built telescope outshines competition

“The first time we looked through it we looked at the moon, and it was like, oh my God, this is so cool, and we built it, it is ours,” said Katie Barmazel, 15. As part of the project, the three teenagers also hand-ground their own 8-inch mirror, a job that took 270 hours and propelled them to both Merit and Astronomers Choice awards at the Riverside Telescope Makers Conference, winning over 600 other entries. Link.