Re: [ATM] Banishing the diagonal

[George Anderson <georgea@cam.org>]

Hi Art

The idea is quite do-able, SBIG used to make a CCD camera which was
water cooled through two small plumbing lines. That would all but
eliminate the heat source inside the tube.
But the big thing going against the idea is that most people still want
to see the real thing with their eyes. If it is on a monitor why not
just rent the video or log onto one of the robotic scope sites?
Some will be thrilled with the idea of sticking a scope in a small shed
and having the whole thing under computer control, I still get a rush
everytime I put a long FL EP in any of my scopes and do a slow sweep
through a diamond sprinkled milky way. I don't think any monitor and
camera will match the dynamic range or total resolution of the eye. And
that is when the eye is in its poor B&W state and also only the central
10-15% of the viewing disc is high res.

George Anderson
Montreal Canada

Clear skies and good health

artbianconi@blast.net wrote:
> 
> Hello Gary,
> 
> I've been following this string with interest and it occurs to me
> that before too much longer, secondary mirrors will likely all
> but disappear from the OTA.
> 
> It's inevitable that as CCD receptors improve their resolution,
> there will come a time when you can place one precisely at the
> focal point of the primary, capture the entire image and send the
> signal to a high definition TV after putting it through software
> enhancement.
> 
> Art
> 
> Hello,
> 
> I've been considering (from a perspective of almost no
> knowledge) the problem of minimizing the secondary
> obstruction in a standard Newtonian design. Could the
> following work:
> 
> Place a lens immediately alongside a much smaller than usual
> diagonal so that the cone of light, hitting the diagonal at
> approximately focus, would be refocused to a point comfortably
> outside the tube.
> 
> If this wouldn't work - and I mean "work" in a practical, do-
> able, giving comparable results to the standard methods, way, why
> not?
> 
> Thank you,
> 
> Gary Fuchs
> 
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