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Re: [ATM] List "reference material"
Mark,
Karine and Jean-Marc Lecleire have added significant new material to
Texereau, in my opinion. Discussion of the Foucault test is expanded, and
moving source testers are mentioned along with the factor of 1/2 in
longitudinal aberration. Tile-on-plaster tools are mentioned. Figuring
techniques for faster mirrors are developed at some length. The 10 inch
scope is f/4.3, the Cassegrain primary is 12 inch f/3, and there is a
chapter on testing and correcting astigmatism with an artificial star and
the wire test. The list goes on, but it isn't perfect, nor even up to date
with ATM practice.
I agree a new book is in order. And for Americans at least, one written
originally in the American idiom would be smoother reading. Even Kriege and
Berry no longer has the last word on big Dob design or on making large
mirrors. One of the strong trends I see is astro-imaging with CCDs, and a
spillover into pro-am collaborations, such as Deep Impact.
Writing a book, though, is big work. And authors are entitled to financial
returns for their efforts. There are people on this list capable of writing
a decent book, but the success of the web is causing two problems:
(1). First is that we've become used to short, punchy answers to questions,
located instantly by Google. People surfing the web, especially the younger
set (which doesn't include me) just don't slow down for anything that
scrolls off the bottom of the screen.
(2). Because of (1) and the glut of exciting stuff on it, people - most
especially the younger set - have less time and inclination to spend reading
in-depth information in books, which requires sustained thought. The market
for books, along with young people interested in astronomy, may be rapidly
dwindling in our cyberspeed culture, even as interest in space soars.
Stuart Hutchins
----- Original Message -----
> I have a more radical suggestion. I think it is about time that somebody
> write a new atm book. I haven't read the LeClare's book. My impression
> from what I have heard, and the description at Willman-Bell gives the
> impression that it recycles a lot of Texerau's material. The basic advice
> that experienced atm's are now giving out to beginners has diverged
> significantly from Tex. and the other older books. It is time, in my
> opinion, to put the new methods between solid covers.
>
> Although I am a big fan of the web, and the internet as information media,
> I think a good, old fashioned, hard bound book has a lot going for it.
>
> My own suggestion would be a book, somewhat along the lines of Tex, that
> gives a serious treatment of mirror making, but morphs Tex's standard
> telescope into a Dob.
>
> --
> Mark Holm
> mdholm@telerama.com
>
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