In 2018, TIME magazine wrote an article about amateur astronomers who gathered on Breezy Hill in Springfield, Vermont. Zane Landers was one of the astronomers who was there that day. Zane is now 17 years old and becoming quite well known on social media. He recently finished building his latest telescope, a 14.7″ f/2.89 Newtonian reflector.
A Newtonian reflector telescope was first constructed by English scientist Sir Isaac Newton in 1668. Newtonian telescopes require no lenses, instead, they use two mirrors. The primary mirror is spherical or parabolic and stationed at the lower end, while the second mirror is near the top of the tube and deflects the light beam 90 degrees to the eyepiece for viewing.
Zane posted a photo on Reddit and talked about his new telescope’s capabilities:
Despite its rough appearance, it is capable of capturing 2,500 times more light than the human eye, and it is larger than the telescope they have at the observatory in my city.
He was diagnosed with a special kind of autism called autism spectrum disorder (ASD), which they say is a neurobiological development disorder. I’m not sure how that would be a disorder considering his advanced level of intelligence.
La Vanguardia reported that because of his ASD, Zane had an unusually strong interest in the “construction of space machinery.” He looks to find solutions to “spatial challenges” and builds his machinery accordingly, by using parts from other telescopes or some he orders online.
His passion for astronomy started at an early age:
Everything I have learned has been online or on the go while working on projects. I’ve built a lot of telescopes, the first one featured in TIME magazine. Two others were for a class I gave online.
Aside from TIME magazine, Zane has also been featured in Sky and Telescope, and National Geographic online, for his construction of a 6″ f/4.3 Newtonian and handmade primary mirror telescope. He has also built homemade 6″, 10″, 12″, 16″, and 20″ Dobsonians. The 10″ f/3.2 Dobsonian, he was able to feature at Skscrapers, AstroAssembly: The Next Generation of Amateur Telescope Making presentation. He was actively involved in the relocation of the 22″ Stamford Observatory Maksutov-Cassegrain.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ef97jdF2uPs
Zane has a YouTube channel where he teaches others how to build telescopes through tutorial videos. He aspires to be a teacher to further inspire others through his knowledge and passions for space.
