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Old 04-09-2008, 09:56 PM
ColHut (Colin)
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Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Perth WA
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How can I tell if/whether my 4.5" mirror is spherical/parabolic

And does it matter at f8. The tube is a Bushnell but the manufacturer is Synta I think. Are the Skywatcher f8 4.5" mirrors parabolic or spherical.

cheers
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Old 04-09-2008, 10:22 PM
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Blue Skies (Jacquie)
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At f/8 the mirror is probably spherical and no, it doesn't matter because of the long focal length. I have a table that give the min focal length for a 4" mirror to be usable as spherical as f/7.0 and a 5" as f/7.8 so your being in between those two aperture and longer in focal length than the 5" would easily be so. This is why these scopes and mirrors are so cheap - they don't need the specialised skills needed to make it parabolic!
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Old 04-09-2008, 11:13 PM
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Merlin66 (Ken)
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Fastest and easiest way to check is using a Ronchi grating focussed on a star with 3- 4 lines visible. If the lines are straight is parabolic; if they curve then its spherical.
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