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Re: Extremely Light Weight 8" Telescope

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Posted by Robert May on June 8, 1999 22:41:14 UTC

Probably. The first thing you need to do is make/buy a thin mirror that doesn't weigh much. This does mean that you need to make a fancier support for it but that doesn't weigh anywhere near as much as the glass that you take out. The next thing is to build the OTA light. This means some fancy work to get the weight down like learning how to make and glue together light sections in one way or the other. If you're trying to make a backpacking scope (suspicion from the weight limit and the discussions in the SAA NG) then you need to make a solid container to put the OTA into (making the upper assy smaller/larger than the lower allows for telescoping the two together and maybe rotating the assy 90deg. will allow for putting into the basebox with the baseboard as the cover for everything. If you can use the closed up case as a chair or table all the better for camping. I'm working on the problems with a 6" F4 and my weight limit is 5lbs. so your 15lbs is probably a lot easier to do. Remember that cloth does a good job for blocking light and is very lightweight. You will probably end up with a cube about 12" sq. to pack around. Good Luck.

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