Go Back   IceInSpace > Equipment > Equipment Discussions
Register FAQ Calendar Today's Posts Search

Reply
 
Thread Tools Rate Thread
  #1  
Old 02-04-2012, 01:46 PM
pvelez's Avatar
pvelez (Pete)
Registered User

pvelez is offline
 
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Sydney
Posts: 1,250
Focal length and plate scale

Dumb question....

If I have a telescope with focal length 1200mm and add a barlow that gives me a 1.6x magnification boost, does my focal length increase by the same factor ie I go to 1920mm?

I am trying to plate solve guider images with my new LISA spectrograph. I understand that the guider optics magnify the image on the guide camera sensor by a factor of 1.6.

I have an RC8 with a focal length of 1620mm reduced to 1200mm or thereabouts with a focal reducer. That should give me a pixel size of 1.27 arcsec/pixel. But because of the guider optics, that should drop to 0.79 arcsec/pixel as the effective focal length is now pushed out to 1920mm.

How's my logic?

If I can platesolve my guidecamera images, I can move my scope to centre my target on the spectrograph slit easily using Maxim - without it, there is a hell of a lot of trial and error involved with the gamepad controller.

Pete
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old 02-04-2012, 02:00 PM
alocky's Avatar
alocky (Andrew lockwood)
PI popular people's front

alocky is offline
 
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: perth australia
Posts: 1,291
Correct - the image scale is a linear function of effective focal length.
Cheers
Andrew.
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old 02-04-2012, 02:37 PM
pvelez's Avatar
pvelez (Pete)
Registered User

pvelez is offline
 
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Sydney
Posts: 1,250
Cool - thanks

Pete
Reply With Quote
Reply

Bookmarks


Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT +10. The time is now 04:47 AM.

Powered by vBulletin Version 3.8.7 | Copyright ©2000 - 2025, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Advertisement
Bintel
Advertisement