Re: Plastic mirrors

David Beach (D.Beach@irl.cri.nz)
Fri, 28 Apr 1995 08:40:42 +1200

> REGARDING Plastic mirrors
>
>Has anyone heard of any research or experimentation on the use of plastic, or
>resins for making large mirrors. By large I mean about 20 - 25". I'm sure
>there must be some fairly thermally stable plastics out there. This type of
>scope would be just for visual work in a dob mount.
>
>My thought is that you could mount the mirror in an enclosed cell and use
>adjusting screws to push or pull the mirror into configuration as the
>temperature changes. Perhaps a CCD and a computer could be used in the
>adjustment process. It would be nice to produce large mirrors at a fraction
>of the cost of Pyrex ones and they would be much lighter.
>
>Any thoughts or comments? Am I totally "loony tunes"?
>
>Don Loftus

The ultimate answer to this Frequently Asked Question is: Do you imagine for one moment that all the technically qualified entrepreneurs around the world haven't thought the same thing and investigated with the single universal aim of making a million bucks? Can you imagine for more than a microsecond that there wouldn't be something on the market if it were possible?

Having said that (for the 10**nth time) I have to say that I have some ideas that need experimentation for making "light-bucket" mirrors. My own actual working spun-resin mirrors of c. 1971 were of a quality which would offer some hope of making photometer systems with angular resolutions of the order of ummm, well, maybe 10 arc-minutes, maybe better with practice.

_______________________________________________________________________________ Science is the lamp which man has himself kindled: it has built him lighthouses on the dark shores of the unknown: but his dreams, his quests for truth, lead him beyond the waters which his little lamp of knowledge illumines; and if he would venture on the farther ocean he must set his course by a star. "A reading of life". S. R. Lysaght, Irish Minister, poet and racist bigot. ------------------------------------- David Beach, Scientist, Machine Vision Team, Industrial Research Limited, POBox 2225, Auckland, New Zealand. +64 9 303 4116 (Voice), +64 9 302 8106 (Fax), http://www.irl.cri.nz (Web). ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~