[mbrubeck]

Actually, this is not supposed to be a replica or simulation of Galileo's telescope. The scope in its default configurations has around 50% to 200% greater magnification than Galileo did, and it also uses newer optical techniques (achromatic doublets, internal baffles) to provide greater clarity than 17th-century instruments.

It is possible to assemble the Galileoscope in an alternate configuration that has the same magnification as the scope that Galileo used.

The real purpose of the Galileoscope is not to build a replica, but to build a cheap but high-quality telescope so that anyone (including children in schools that receive donated scopes) can see what Galileo saw: Saturn's rings, Jupiter's moons, and detailed views of our own moon.

[obvioustroll]

I did say "emulate" not "replicate".