I wanted something bigger than 12" and my first design criterion where:
- Reflector
- As big as possible within the physical limitations and economy
- Maximum OTA length < 2m
- Primary use: imaging
- Deep sky
- Remote controlable focuser
- Good looking
My local equipment shop, Erik Persson, offered me a good deal for a new 16" parabolic, f4,5. I decided this was to be used and the rest of the design had to be adjusted to this mirror and the preliminary specs now looked like this:
- Newton design
- 16"
- f4,6
- Back focus: 68mm
- Secondary mirror: 100mm
- Baader MPCC corrector
- OTA overall dimensions: 1805x500x500mm
- Weight: 54kg
The project should not last for several years so I decided to buy some of the parts (beside the mirrors) so I orderd a MoonLite focuser and a custom made spider from Astroparts-Unger in Germany who also delivered the secondary mirror from Teleskop Service.
My mentor in optics, Jens Jacobsen, helped designing the important parameter - especially details for the primary mirror cell. For this work the programs PLOP, NEWT and MODAS have been a great help.
Overall design given by NEWT
Dimensions given by NEWT
Performance given by NEWT