[obvioustroll]

Errr.. the whole point of this scope is to duplicate the optics that Galileo himself had to deal with. A web cam would be sort of self-defeating.

In any case, cheap cameras give very poor results, but if you want to try one you can always do this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9khTIkwNmW8

[anigbrowl]

Well, it's not - that's why they include an achromatic lens element to reduce color fringing as well as an (optional) rectifying eyepiece. Microscope eyepiece cams aren't too pricey on eBay and might deliver better results than a consumer cam.

I can see a lot of cool little science fair projects with something like this, not all for astronomy either, eg mount 2 of them in parallel and build a stereoscopic analysis tool.

[obvioustroll]

"Duplicate" was a poor choice of words, I'm trying to say that the point of the scope is to give kids the same experience that Galileo had.

I mean, yes, they opted for a modern achromatic lens - they also chose plastic instead of wood - but that doesn't change the basic point of the scope.