[APML] Which way the corrector plate?

[Robert Reeves <reeves10@swbell.net>]

OK gang, here is a real dumb question.  I know this isn't an ATM discussion,
but there are some good optical folks out there. Which way does a Schmidt
corrector plate go, curved side in toward the mirror or curved side outside?

No, I haven't dismantled something and made a mistake (YET!), but I have
alsways seen the s-shaped curve of a Schmidt corrector shown on diagrams as
being away from the mirror.  It is this way in the owner's manuals and
nearly everything else I have seen, including such authoratative refferences
as Gregory Smith's Practical Computer-Aided Lens Design (p. 381).  But in my
lunch hour reading of Rutten and van Venrooij's Telescope Optics I see not
one but two illustrations showing the curved face of the corrector toward
the mirror (p. 76 and p. 78).  I am assuming an editing error got past them
and the Rutten and van V illustration is incorrect.

Any coments before I pop the corrector out of my Schmidt camera and really
confuse myself?

Robert Reeves                      reeves10@swbell.net
520 Rittiman Rd.                   www.robertreeves.com
San Antonio, Texas 78209    210-828-9036
USA                                     29.484  98.440  200 meters


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