This is something I meant to share ages ago but never quite got around to it...I think it was when my THIRD hand control died after two EQ6 mount failures & I lost the will to live.
But I'm over that now...hopefully.
So back on subject, I had some nasty effects from my mirror clips showing in star flaring (probably a more correct term but it escapes me).
I made a plastic ring with a felt inside edge that slips under the mirror clips, stopping them from showing, it also blocks the edge of the mirror which must have some small grinding errors/chips (these aren't real chips just that grinding glass up to a pointy edge must have some errors in it surely).
I do lose a couple of percent in mirror area but that's OK if it looks better.
But I'll let the pictures speak for themselves, the last is a before & after comparison of Antares.
I think you'll agree a much cleaner star image.
I had wondered if using a more precision cut, non felt covered ring would give a circular diffraction "spike" like I've seen in some images. (baffle interaction??)
