ATM !! HELP!!! FIGURING HELP POLISHING!!!

[Michael Peck <mpeck1@ix.netcom.com>]

In addition to working on your interpersonal skills and taking a break I'll
suggest a couple things that might help you get better advice.

First of all, the half life of messages on this list is pretty short. When
you post a "what do I do?" type query it's a safe bet that all the useful
responses will arrive within 24 hours. If a thread goes on longer than that
it's usually because it's gone off on a tangent of no particular relevance
to the original query.

So, that means if you want people to look at your web page you should
re-post the url every time you post to the list. A short .sig file will
save you the trouble of retyping it every time you post. If you don't know
what that is maybe a guru at your university can help you. You also need to
follow up with more queries of the form "OK, I did this, here were the
consequences, now what?".

Someone, I guess it was you, asked for figuring advice a week or so ago. I
had a look and came to the same conclusion as Jim Burrows, who offered some
helpful advice that I guess you must have missed. Here it is again: 

A single foucault shadowgram is essentially useless!! The only thing it can
tell you is if your mirror surface is smooth enough to merit further
analysis, and even that is tricky. You need to take a real set of test
measurements. Once you have those there are plenty of people on the list
who can help you interpret them and decide what to do next. If you haven't
insulted too many of them they might even choose to do so.

If you haven't done so already you should go to <http://www.atmsite.org>
and follow the links to find Nils Olof Carlin's discourse on making couder
masks. There's a javascript calculator in there that will help you design
an appropriate mask for the size and focal ratio mirror you're making. You
should certainly read carefully the relevant sections in Texereau and then
read them a couple times more.

Mike Peck

PS - spelling flames only work if (a) you actually know how to spell, and
(b) you don't mind looking like a supercilious jerk.
_________________

Michael Peck
mailto:mpeck1@ix.netcom.com
Wildlife photography page http://home.netcom.com/~mpeck1/index.html
Amateur telescope making http://home.netcom.com/~mpeck1/astro/astro.html