I'm not that familiar with the design of an SCT, but it's my understanding that any telescope that has a spider or similar obstruction will benefit from an off axis mask. It will remove the diffraction spikes from the image. If you have a curved spider than you don't have diffraction spikes any way, so there's no benefit in that case other than reducing the amount of light that enters the telescope. Another thing to keep in mind is that any time you reduce the aperture of a telescope you also reduce the resolving power. However, with solar scopes, 4" is plenty for great detail. On Tue, Mar 6, 2012 at 10:59 AM, Dunn, David <David.Dunn@supervalu.com> wrote:
I don't know all the reasons for doing the off-axis but that is what I have done with my previous filters. I do know that the Sun is too bright and just like you would mask your telescope down to get a better view of Mars, masking it down to 4" will help with keeping the light from washing out the detail when viewing the Sun.
I am planning to buy 1/2 meter of the Baader solar film and cut it into 4.92" squares. I plan to sell them for about $4. That will handle the cost of the film and some poster board to protect the sheets.
Thanks, David Dunn
-----Original Message----- From: utah-astronomy-bounces@mailman.xmission.com [mailto:utah-astronomy-bounces@mailman.xmission.com] On Behalf Of Kim Sent: Tuesday, March 06, 2012 10:50 AM To: 'Utah Astronomy' Subject: [Utah-astronomy] solar filter
Anyone have thoughts about advantages/disadvantages of using a full-aperture filter versus an off-axis filter on a SCT? I'm trying to decide whether to purchase or make a full-aperture filter. If I purchase a sheet of film and make an off-axis filter I'll have enough film left over for one or two pairs of binoculars. I'm always for saving a buck or two - or 25 or 30 (for another piece of film).
Kim
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