Re: [ATM] Ultra-Thin Edge Support Idea - RE: [atm_free]ULTRA-THIN30"mirror from Hong Kong

["Peter" <peter@kitgear.com>]

Hi,

Lots of good discussion here! Thanks for that.

We have a great number of really smart and experienced people on this list
so let's break the paradigm that thick mirrors are they only way to go and
come up with a way to adequately support ultra thin mirrors? Observatory
mirrors have thickness ratios which are radical in comparison to the 30:1
just discussed. Surely with all of the potential on this board we can come
up with a means to support large thin mirrors to an accuracy of 1/4
wavefront.

- should be abandon lateral edge support and go with silicone attachment of
the mirror to the cell?
- should we centrally support the mirror from the rear just like conicals by
gluing a rear support?
- should we use astatic cells?
- for super thin mirrors maybe we could built defection controls into the
mirror support to improve image quality?

I think it would be really cool if we as a group could identify the best
approaches, perform experimental design on these ideas and examine the
factors affecting success.

The outcome of this work could set a new standard for amateur telescope
making. This could be ground breaking work!


Peter

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