Newtonian Telescope D=300mm F#5

Milled parts of the main cage that holds the primary and secondary mirror.

Turning of the end parts that connect the carbon tubes with the threads on the ball joints.

Blanks and some finished end caps before cutting the threads.

Primary mirror just before mounting it for the first time.

View from the front onto the primary mirror. The spider that holds the secondary mirror is made of 30mm x 0.5mm spring steel. (Still needs to be painted black though to avoid specular reflections at the sides.)

A first test image of the moon. There was quite a bit of turbulence that day and I also did not have a camera mount for the test (the image is taken through the eyepiece).

Test of another eyepiece - looking at Mare Crisium

Simulation of the PSF on axis HeNe (only telescope, no eyepiece)

Simulation of the PSF for 0.1° field HeNe (about 0.6 waves of coma, only telescope, no eyepiece)

Simulation of the MTF - on axis, 0.05° and 0.1° field. Outer field has about 0.6 waves of coma (only telescope, no eyepiece)

All CAD files of the main cage that holds the mirrors as well as the eyepiece or camera mount and the optical design of the telescope can be downloaded here. As soon as the mount is finished those files will be available here for download as well, but it may take some time.

Download mechanics as FreeCAD project
Download mechanics as STEP file
Download optics as Quadoa model