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Old 09-06-2009, 09:51 PM
Wavytone
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Wavytone is offline
 
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Killara, Sydney
Posts: 4,147
Absolutely - you can't buy an f/7 Newtonian in any aperture, even if you want to - which staggers me.

Manufacturers are driven by lowest-cost - and the shorter the tube the cheaper it is - oblivious of the consequences - knowing that most don't know why they SHOULDN"T buy short focal ratio Newtonians.

Which leaves making one as the only viable alternative.

BTW here's the maths http://www.telescope-optics.net/newt...berrations.htm


and note: "This means that one could see it (coma) at the edge of a 40° AFOV eyepiece at ƒ/4, regardless of its focal length"

This suggests widefield eyepieces (65 degrees and more) in an f/4 newtonian are rather pointless. You can struggle with Parracors and the like, but it would be a lot better to start with an f/7 mirror.

Last edited by Wavytone; 09-06-2009 at 10:25 PM.
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