Re: ATM (no subject)--egg shape

[Spencer Roedder <roedder@roedder.com>]

> Well, I for one, fell that it's about time we start demanding that
> telescope manufactuers produce egg-shaped diagonals.  When you think
> about it, that's the shape you get when you cut a cone at a 45 degree
> angle.  It would provide a smaller obstruction and would appear, to the
> eye, to be closer to round when viewed through the eyepiece tube.
> 
> Regards,
>   Fred Maxwell
> 
> P.S.  The above is only half-serious -- though technically correct.
> 
Well actually, though it's hard to believe, cutting a cone at a 45 degree
angle gives you a true ellipse (that's why it's called a conic section).
The kicker is that the "center" of the ellipse is not where the centerline
of the cone goes through it.

--Spencer Roedder   roedder@roedder.com