Or would the tolerances needed in the hinged mirror make the whole thing unusable?

I was looking at modern “smart telescopes” recently and noticed some are sideways and wondered if that would be possible for a normal hobby Newtonian telescope.

Possible upsides:

  • no tripod needed for use
  • mirror is light so smaller motors can be used for movement

Possible downsides:

  • maybe mirror flatness?
  • einfach_orangensaftOPEnglish
    1·
    3 天前

    thats what i was thinking :/

    Tubeless telescopes exist tho, i saw some big diy newtonians that did not have any

    • Balthazar@lemmy.worldEnglish
      4·
      3 天前

      There are good reasons to not use a tube: tubes limit airflow over the mirror, increasing “mirror seeing”, and they add weight. But then you need an alternative way of rejecting off-axis light. One way of doing that is a dome or similar enclosure.