RE: ATM Baffling a newt - street light tests

[Chuck Dethloff <telmor@teleport.com>]

At 08:54 AM 6/30/98 -0500, Krajci Tom Det5 57 Wg wrote:
>       Mel, Chuck, do you mean to say that in your demonstration, when the
>flashlight beam is striking the main mirror at an oblique angle, that you
>can't detect that at the eyepiece?

Tom,

That is correct. Mel moved the flashlight all around, shining it off both
the primary and the secondary mirror at several angles, without any
scattered light visible at the eyepiece. 

Not looking through the eyepiece, but rather looking down at the mirror
from the side of the telescope, showed that the surface of the mirror was
indeed lighting up when Mel shined the flashlight on it. But the light was
either reflecting harmlessly out of the light path due to the angle of
incidence, or being completely blocked by Mel's baffles before it got to
the eyepiece. 

I suppose one could argue that _some_ light was redirected off of dust
particles on-axis and therefore not blocked, but if so, the effect was not
visible to my eager eye. <g> I now have no doubts that a properly baffled
truss tube scope does not need a shroud after Mel's demonstration to me
last summer. 

Chuck