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Would this even work? (sh.itjust.works)

Or would the tolerances needed in the hinged mirror make the whole thing unusable?

I was looking at modern "smart telescopes" recently and noticed some are sideways and wondered if that would be possible for a normal hobby Newtonian telescope.

Possible upsides:

  • no tripod needed for use
  • mirror is light so smaller motors can be used for movement

Possible downsides:

  • maybe mirror flatness?
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[-] troyunrau@lemmy.ca 14 points 2 days ago

Every interface (mirror or lens surface) adds error, and that error is multiplicative. The question is whether that error is worth the convenience in form factor, and that isn't something that can be easily answered. Sometimes you need to build it and use it :)

[-] Balthazar@lemmy.world 5 points 2 days ago

Flat mirrors are pretty easy to get right (no aspheres involved). Of course, you want a mirror reflecting from the front of the glass, not from the back like those you see every day.

I think your main problems are going to be practical: it now needs to be mounted differently, and it would be much harder to mount equatorial, so tracking is more difficult. You would probably have a problem with scattered light, as the entrance pupil isn't well defined, and there may be direct paths for light to get to the focal plane without going the route you've highlighted; that will make it much more difficult to do faint work, and I think it's the main problem you'll have.

entrance pupil isn’t well defined

oh right, i didnt thought about that, maybe i could add some sort of shroud to the light inlet

[-] Balthazar@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago

To be effective, it would have to be like a telescope tube, which is what you're trying to eliminate in the first place.

thats what i was thinking :/

Tubeless telescopes exist tho, i saw some big diy newtonians that did not have any

[-] Balthazar@lemmy.world 4 points 2 days ago

There are good reasons to not use a tube: tubes limit airflow over the mirror, increasing "mirror seeing", and they add weight. But then you need an alternative way of rejecting off-axis light. One way of doing that is a dome or similar enclosure.

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this post was submitted on 02 Nov 2024
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