plateglass > bk7 ?

[vindictive666]

hello

for argument sake if i bought a dobb
i was wondering how you can (or If )
tell the difference between plateglass and the bk7 quality mirrors ?

:confuse3: :cheers:

[ballaratdragons]

Plate Glass has a green tinge to it.

[ving]

visually (for observing that is) there is no diference i am told. the only reason you would want to get bk7 is if you live where the temperatures are really cold... like the snowy mountains. I get temps during winter in campbelltown that can go as low as -3 and plate glass is fine. the green tinge is in the glass its self and because you dont actually look thru the glass but on the the mirrored surface the greeness has no effect on viewing what so ever. :)
hope this helped

[ballaratdragons]

Hahaha!

Yeah, I made it sound like the view has a green tinge. Sorry about that.

[vindictive666]

thanks people
that answered a few questions :)

i thought there was a difference in glass quality :)

[ballaratdragons]

No, it's all to do with teperature equalisation.

The more expensive the glass, the less it shrinks and expands and the speed it does it.

[rmcpb]

From what I understand plate glass and BK7 have virtually the same expansion coefficients and the difference is virtually nill for our purposes as the reflective covering is on the front of the mirror so colour of the glass does not matter.

Pyrex, however, is another matter. Ever thought about why pyrex can be taken out of an oven a put into water without breaking. Its because it has a very low expansion coefficient so when it is heated is hardly expands or changes shape. As a result when its put into cold water and the outer layer shrinks the movement is not enough to break the glass. Now carry this over into telescopes pyrex virtually does not change shape or size over the temperature we work so pyrex mirrors maintain their shape and, hence, collimation better than plate glass or BK7.

Put this all together and it probably matters most to people who live in Canada or some other really cold country where they take their scopes in and out of heated houses but, over the temperature ranges we experience here average plate glass or BK7 does a great job. Just remember to let the temperatures equilibrate on your scope before using it.

Cheers

[ving]

so what you are saying is the pyrex is dishwasher safe? ;)

:P
hehe
i crack me up!

[janoskiss]

Is pyrex really a glass? I always thought it was a polymer.

[ballaratdragons]

And don't take your mirror out of the oven and put it in a sink of cold water straight away!

:stupid:

[rmcpb]

Yep, the mirror would be but how clean your coating would be at the end I won't go there :)