Telescope in the movie "Knowing"

Jules76 (Julian) · #1 10-08-2009, 02:35 PM

Hi all,

Has anyone seen this movie? I've got the week off work so I figured I'd catch up on some movies. Was OK, but of an off ending, but anyway I'm not looking to do a movie review.

At the start, the character Nicolas Cage is playing is looking into a telescope and he has this weird looking eyepiece. Never seen anything like it before. It was really long and he was moving about with it so you could look through it at different angles and away from the scope.

Anyway intrigued as to whether this was just some hollywood gizmo or something for real, I did a Google search and actually found the actual prop he was using.

http://www.premiereprops.com/product...oducts_id=6511

"Direct from the set of Knowing, this is John's (Nicolas Cage) black wooden and metal eyepiece from "Celestron" telescope. (*prop only / does not work) (approx. 16.5" x 7")"

Is this for real? Obvisously this particular one isn't but it has me scratching my head.

Gargoyle_Steve (Steve) · #2 10-08-2009, 03:24 PM

I haven't seen that movie yet, but I did see this telescope on ebay a couple of days ago, the whole "second " focusser gadget looks quite similar.

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI....=STRK:MEWAX:IT

It kind of reminds me of a set of bagpipes actually!

Jules76 (Julian) · #3 10-08-2009, 04:02 PM

Yes that looks like it except it wasn't a secondary focuser. Much larger telescope too (I'm guessing 8 inch) with a viewfinder. I think it was a Celestron scope, as not only does it say the eyepiece is one, but later in the movie there's a scene where he's teaching his class and there's a nice line up of Celestron's (NexStar's etc). Product placement.

Interesting eyepiece.

Davros (Lauren) · #4 10-08-2009, 04:40 PM

https://www.premiereprops.com/images...t_knwg2003.jpg

weird bit of kit looks like a flimsy focuser

leon · #5 10-08-2009, 04:52 PM

Gee you guys must be bored sometimes,

nice pick up though

Leon

astroron (Ron) · #6 10-08-2009, 05:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gargoyle_Steve

I haven't seen that movie yet, but I did see this telescope on ebay a couple of days ago, the whole "second " focusser gadget looks quite similar.

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI....=STRK:MEWAX:IT

It kind of reminds me of a set of bagpipes actually!

That set up on this scope is a flip finder and the thing is probably a barlow type magnifier

scopemankit (Chris) · #7 10-08-2009, 07:14 PM

I an old S & T there as a similar attachment to a Mersenne Telescope, which allowed peple in wheelchairs to view through the secondary scope.

renormalised (Carl) · #8 10-08-2009, 10:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by scopemankit

I an old S & T there as a similar attachment to a Mersenne Telescope, which allowed peple in wheelchairs to view through the secondary scope.

You can still get attachments like this for setting up scopes for wheelchair bound people. Many of the planetarium based scopes in the US have them fitted just for that purpose.

Jules76 (Julian) · #9 11-08-2009, 10:04 AM

That's probably what it is, cheers guys!

I saw the movie listing on IMDB.com, and someone made mention that the reason for using this prop was so they could get a better camera angle when filming. Guess they didn't want to see him side on!