All Newtonian telescopes require a secondary mirror — a flat mirror held at roughly a 45-degree angle to reflect the light from the primary out to the side. Generally this secondary mirror is an ellipsoid, in order to waste as little light as possible.

One major problem is figuring out how to hold this secondary mirror in place securely without interfering with the passage of light from your distant target. The secondary mirror can be held on a stalk, or on crossed arms like a spider’s web.

The images below show how Ramona D made a spider using a piece of extruded aluminum tube with a square cross section, several bolts, a spring, a piece of plastic dowel, some pieces of steel strapping tape, a few thumbscrews, and various small nuts and bolts. She did a very neat job, including threading and tapping several small holes in the aluminum tube.

The idea is not original to me: I got the idea from somebody else on line, but unfortunately, I don’t recall the name of the person to whom I should give credit.

Here are some photos that probably do a better job of explaining how to make it than I could explain in many, many paragraphs.