What is this?

[gorann]

Came across this image on Pinterest. Does anyone have an idea what the guy is up to? The image has a title ("Catoptric - Tri-Schiefspiegler") but no description.

Should I wish for one of these things for Christmas?

Cheers, Göran

[Laurin Dave]

I think he's trying to detect whether there's any change in the speed of light as the earth moves through the Ether and around its orbit...  his baseline seems a bit short though.. 

[Astrobits]

It's a very long focus reflector. Schiefspieglers typically have spherical mirrors and are in the area of f/25. They work off axis but with the very long focus they have minimal astigmatism. The primary in the pic would appear to be around 12" and reflects onto another mirror that is not visible behind the panel at the left of the telescope. That mirror reflects onto the small mirror seen just left and above the main mirror which, in turn, reflects into the eyepiece.

Nigel

[DaveS]

Yup, it's a folded off-axis reflector. I remember there was quite a "thing" for them back in the day. Seen a number in old S&T ATM pages.

[lukebl]

That reminded me of an article in a copy of Sky and Telescope which I just dug out. 1975. I was a young man then!

I would have thought collimation would be a nightmare, with three mirrors to align.

Edited December 19, 2021 by lukebl

[lukebl]

42 minutes ago, gorann said:

I don't think that guy's going to see very much. It's daytime and it looks like it's cloudy!

[tomato]

And what about sag in the long wooden beam as it’s moisture content varies?😳

[gorann]

Thanks a lot all of you for the enlightenment! I have excluded it from my Christmas list😆

[billhinge]

Check out the definitive page for weird telescopes http://spider.seds.org/scopes/dstevick/weird.html 

This is the original page your pic was taken from http://spider.seds.org/scopes/dstevick/trischi.html

Buchroeder design Tri-Schiefspiegler on this provisional structure. The optics for the 300mm Tri-Schief  ....

I always wanted a Stevick Paul

[powerlord]

23 hours ago, lukebl said:

That reminded me of an article in a copy of Sky and Telescope which I just dug out. 1975. I was a young man then!

I would have thought collimation would be a nightmare, with three mirrors to align.

those prices arn't far off what they are now... 45 year later !

[John]

A fascinating book about novel telescope designs is Peter L Manly's "Unusual Telscopes":

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Unusual-Telescopes-Peter-L-Manly/dp/052148393X

It's a good read

 

[lukebl]

4 minutes ago, powerlord said:

those prices arn't far off what they are now... 45 year later !

True. Astronomy is a lot more affordable now.

You can't beat a basic 200mm Newt, which now costs about the same as the little basic 60mm refractor I used as kid (but which still enabled me to get a grade A in O-Level Astronomy, I might add!)