Re: [ATM] Silvering telescope mirror's

[Dominic-Luc Webb <dlwebb@canit.se>]

On Mon, 21 Jan 2008, Russell Jocoy wrote:

>    James Learch will guide you through this process on his website.
> But James' has no silvered mirrors..If you go further into his process
> of "madness" you will realize that he worked through the historic
> process into the future..."ALUMINIZING" ...Silver is great for coins...

Essentially my view. There is some fun inorganic chemistry here,
but everyone went with aluminizing because it is simply a lot
more practical. Silver is slightly more reflective, but this is
hardly a reason to choose this material.

There is some rationale however to consider silver coatings, for
a select few people. It will introduce you to alternative coatings
that can reflect considerably better at some wavelengths outside
the visible where aluminum is a poor choice. I dare not predict
the future, but would not be surprised to see future amateur
astronomers getting into a lot more wavelengths than just
visible.

Dominic

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