Plastic plumbing pipes, household screws and wooden sticks can capture the stars, planets and moons.

Fitted with a lens and mirror, they can become a sturdy, 60mm astronomical telescope suitable for viewing of the night sky, says Mitch Luman, science director for the Evansville Museum.

Luman will teach participants to build and use their own PVC telescopes in a two-session class Sept. 27 and 28 at the museum.

Each class member, even those “not handy with tools,” will finish with a working refractor telescope and tripod mounting that, while inexpensive, will outperform most commercially available instruments of the same size, says Luman. The class will include an opportunity to visit the Wahnsiedler Obervatory in northwest Warrick County.

All materials for the telescopes will come with the $55 registration fee ($45 for museum members) for the class, which will meet 7 to 9 p.m. both nights.

The Charles Vincent Statham Memorial Telescope Fund, endowed in memory of the Statham, subsidizes a substantial portion of the costs, says Luman, “making it affordable to sell the telescopes for the price that we do.”

Luman will take a maximum of 10 students for the class. To register, call the museum at 425-2406 by Wednesday, Sept. 26, the deadline to sign up.