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A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: Benefits of Stigmatizing
From: George Huxtable
Date: 2010 Sep 26, 17:33 +0100
From: George Huxtable
Date: 2010 Sep 26, 17:33 +0100
Douglas Denny asked, about the cap that fits over the eyepieces for my old Vernier sextant, with an azimuth mark to define which-way-up.- ================ "Is there any refractive power in this lens?" I had thought not, but on closer investigation, I find that it does displace the image of a line-object, very slightly, as it's moved across the lens aperture, and this depends on the orientation of the lens. But it displaces that image MUCH less thandoes a 1-dioptre lens does, so I conclude that it is indeed very weakly astigmatic.. "It might be a supplementary lens for someone with refractive eye error, and with a mark on it might be an astigmatic lens - in which case there should be a definite elongation of a star image through it. I still take my eye-glasses off for sextant use and have to adjust the telescope eyepiece for best image, which is not as good as if a proper correction is present: glasses make it difficult with the exit pupil of the telescope - reducing field of view." That might well be so, but it seemed to make no difference to my view of Jupiter, any way round. However, even my "good eye" isn't up-to-much these days; it's due to get a session of retinal lasering tomorrow. "It might just have a mark however, to show which is the best position of the lens fitted to the telescope, as lenses up to post-WW2 possibly up to 1950s were hand-edged and were never a perfect circle so might fit better in a particular way in the fitting; or the brass fitting might be slightly oval and the same applies when fitted to the telescope." There's a Galilean telescope, two eyepieces (with different gains) to fit the inverting telescope, and a peep. This cap can be fitted over all four of these eyepieces, having a thin brass edge, with cuts in it, to make it springy enough to do so. It will fit in any orientation. George. contact George Huxtable, at george{at}hux.me.uk or at +44 1865 820222 (from UK, 01865 820222) or at 1 Sandy Lane, Southmoor, Abingdon, Oxon OX13 5HX, UK.