It should be an interesting project, I would be glad to help you test it out. I was generally referring to traditional mountings of refractors. Your concept seems more catered for longer focal length, IE folding optical path reduces length. I have seen some folded refractors at RTMC in the past, I find them impressive.
On 9/21/11, erikhansen@thebluezone.net <erikhansen@thebluezone.net> wrote:
Chuck, It is pretty much a height issue,
Remember that with the Gerrish mount, the eyepiece is fixed, with the tube pointing down, coaxial with the polar axis. The eyepiece is always in exactly the same position. An elliptical flat reflects the sky up the telescope tube.
The f/10 will put the eyepiece too high for seated viewing, though your chair could raise you high enough, I'm thinking. The f/5 should be about right for a seated position.
I didn't set up on the grass at Winchester for the very reason you cited- the sloped hill. On the pavement next to my car, you'd have no problem accessing the PST, or the binos with solar filters.
_______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list Utah-Astronomy@mailman.xmission.com http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy Visit the Photo Gallery: http://www.slas.us/gallery2/main.php