Re: [ATM] front surface mirrors for binoculars

[Charles Mitchard <charlesmitchard@iinet.net.au>]

At 01:11 PM 3/5/06, you wrote:

>Hi Dave,
>
>In the early days of space shots and satellite viewing, one of the
>techniques was to have a fairly large front surface mirror on a table
>top.  Your binoculars were mounted on a stand on the table and viewing
>down at a 45 degree angle to pick up the sky reflected by the mirror.
>This was very comfortable and you could view for hours.  A large mirror
>from a Xerox copier was often used.  I don't see why this kind of
>arrangement could not be used today.

If you can find the mirrors then great. I've been trying for years to find 
one of those old copiers with a large mirror but to no avail.
All the modern versions just use a narrow strip mirror thats neither use 
nor ornament unless you want to cut lots of very small secondaries.
For a quick and dirty test try removing the protective coat from the back 
of an ordinary household mirror (paint stripper or something????) to leave 
a first surface mirror and using that. It may be good enough unless you 
have an exceptional high mag binocular.
Just a thought, I havnt tried this (yet)
regards
Charles


http://members.iinet.net.au/~charlesmitchard/index.html  


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