Re: ATM 16" F/33 valid design?

[Dominic-Luc Webb molmed <Dominic.Luc-Webb@molmed.ki.se>]

On Tue, 15 Jan 2002, Chris Plicht wrote:

   > >From the book it seems that he really was an artist. One example is a
   > 39.5 inch f/3 mirror that was astigmatic, probably due to the
   > constrictions of his fifth floor workshop. He remedied it by local
   > polishing of the hyperboloidal secondary.


Yes, artist is probably a good term. I am quickly learning with
my catadioptic systems that they are just that... optical systems.
Somehow, testing the system components separately does not seem
to be as easy as just doing local figuring on one of the surfaces.
One quickly begins to identfy local figuring strokes that alter
the system performance in predictable ways. I am learning to
give up trying to apply numbers to some subtle aberations or
trying to reason with it logically. Sometimes a local polishing
stroke here or there fixes the problem.... then move on and use
the darned thing. The optics won't be portable to other scopes
for this reason, but I do not plan to use my Mak corrector on
anything other than the particular scope I made it for, for
instance.




Cheers,



Dominic

North 59 37' 30"
East  17 48' 10"