First thoughts - C9.25 SGT XLT

Dave,

Many congrats on the new toy. As to the size ("Boy its huge!!"), take a peek at a C14 when you have a chance!

Anthony.

Hi Dave,

Congrats on the new scope! just some comments on coatings.

Regarding the special enhanced coatings on telescopes optics. I used to be involved in thin film technology for some years, many years ago.

My experience has shown me that these coatings specifically on primary and secondary mirrors improve the performance. The process by which the coatings are appied results in a very tenacious bonding of these multilayers.

One of the problems in the future (some years away) is when one wants to recoat. When one strips the old coating away this has an affect on the surface quality, ie. the accuracy may slightly deteriorate. This is not a problem for an aluminium plus silicon overlayer type coatings, which is less tenacious bonding, has a slightly less reflectivity. However, means your imaging exposure will take slightly a bit longer for the same resulting image as the special coating.

Because your optics are enclosed the performance with the special coatings will be good for many years.

Eamonn A