Suiter H.R. Star Testing Astronomical Telescopes: A Manual for Optical Evaluation and Adjustment

Richmond: Willmann Bell. – 2001. – 381 p. In writing this book, Dick Suiter has created an important resource for amateur astronomy. This is a book that will help every telescope maker, every telescope owner, and every serious observer learn what a fine telescope is truly capable of, and how to obtain from their own telescopes the best possible images. If you are an amateur astronomer, whether a raw novice or expert, this book is important because it tells you how to get the most from your telescope. What makes the star test so remarkable is that it's both very easy and very sensitive. The star test is so simple that you're probably already using it — even if you aren't fully aware of doing so. Every time you observe, indeed, every time you look through your telescope you see how starlight comes together to form a star image. This book teaches you how to interpret what you see in an objective and meaningful way. This book is about one method of testing the optical quality of telescopes. It goes by the informal name of "star test," although it would probably be more accurately named "point source" testing. The reason stars are used as test objects is not because there are so many, but because stars appear infinitesimally small. Thus, they act like true points. The job of the telescope in this case is to map one point in distant space to one point on the image. Stripping the complexity of imaging to this minimal task, we have some hope of discovering how the telescope fails or succeeds. This book has been written for the amateur astronomer with a telescope of small to moderate size (apertures less than 20 inches or so). The book may occasionally be useful to professional astronomers and optical experts, although the former usually have to deal with the imaging peculiarities of huge telescopes and the latter may have already formed diverse opinions about many of the topics.An Introduction to the AuthorAn Abbreviated Star-Test Manual
Telescopes Are Filters
Diffraction Conducting the Star Test Misalignment Air Turbulence and Tube Currents Pinched and Deformed Optics Obstruction and Shading Spherical Aberration Circular Zones and Turned Edges Chromatic Aberration Roughness Astigmatism Accumulated Optical Problems Other Tests Calculation Methods Minor Axis and Offset Derivation Labeling of Diffraction Patterns
Eyepiece Travel and Defocusing Aberration
Glitter in a Shiny Sphere
List of Common Symbols