From Garage to Galaxies: DIY Astronomy for the Maker
Maker Faire Bay Area 2026
September 25th-27th
Astronomy can seem expensive and out of reach, but most of it can actually be done at home, with maker skills and a modest budget. I'm an astrophysicist at SLAC/Stanford studying the first light from the Big Bang, but I'm also an amateur astronomer and maker who loves tinkering in the garage. In this talk, I'll walk through a range of DIY astronomy projects spanning many budgets, skill levels, and time commitments, and show you the amazing results you can get from each:
A planetarium from a soup can; stargaze from the comfort of your living room
A star tracker built with a stepper motor and Arduino, for long-exposure night sky photography
A weather balloon to photograph the Earth from near-space (3 times higher than airliners)
A hand-built telescope and mirror to see distant galaxies with your own eyes
A Raspberry Pi smart telescope you control from your phone
A radio telescope made from a WiFi dish and software-defined radio, to detect the Milky Way's spiral arms
Many makers before me have documented these projects online; I'm releasing all my own documentation and code so you can build them yourself at home too.
Schedule
Emmanuel Schaan
Dr. Emmanuel Schaan is a staff scientist and astrophysicist at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory/Stanford, studying the first light from the Big Bang and the large-scale distribution of galaxies. Outside the lab, he's a maker and amateur astronomer who has been building astronomy instruments at home for years. He regularly gives public talks for audiences ranging from 3rd graders to retirees, at schools, universities, and amateur astronomy clubs. He organized a near-space balloon launch with undergraduate students and has presented at the Bay Area Science Festival. One of his maker projects was picked up by Hackaday.
