Saturday, May 30, 2015

Telescope Design


I don't have a complete design for a Mayan telescope, but here is a good start:

It's a Newtonian telescope
The primary mirror is a rotating liquid mercury paraboloid reflector, approx 7" diameter

As telescopes go, it's pretty primitive: it only points straight up.

Think of a telescope as doing two things: collecting light to make dim things visible, and magnifying small images to make them large. A big reflector does the first but not the second. We really need an eyepiece for the second.  

I don't have a good theory for the eyepiece. 

It is possible a light-enhancing, but non-magnifying, system could still be useful.

This is the total claim. If you find it totally implausible, stop now. If you find it merely louche, read the next post...

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