Quote:
Originally Posted by Peter Ward
OK it's a 20"...but...does it have the following?
- A 50kg instrument payload
- 100mm diameter instrument adapters
- 90mm diameter fully corrected reducers and field correctors
- Zero image shift, servo controlled secondary focuser
- Integrated touch-screen focus, environment and instrument rotator control
- Zerodur optics with a 98% strehl and 96% reflectivity.
- Finite point analysis and machining to reduce dead weight by 80% or better
- Remote mirror shutters.
Large and elegantly engineered imaging telescopes up until now have not been cheap...hence, to use an automotive analogy, I'd very much like to see whether a Great Wall ute would seriously challenge the latest S-Class.
My money is still on the Benz. |
Well you certainly get the bells and whistles but then again you pay the bells and whistles prices. The adapters from the back end at 100mm right from the 12" up.
The other components you have listed are not included in a GSO package clearly. I am reliably told though that a flattener is in the planning.
As I understand it all the big scopes have a multi point mirror assembly unlike how the 12" has been supported in the past. The 12" will be supported by this assembly in coming models. Logan showed this new development a month of so ago now.
I guess the bottom line is that you get what you pay for and what you can afford. I doubt anyone is suggesting a GSO 20 will be like some of the Merc's or Ferrari's out there but it will no doubt have good performance in the end.