This is Mira, my telescope that I designed and built with the help of two friends. Ever since I had the corrector lenses coated with a high quality broadband anti-reflection coating, like that used on camera lenses, I've wanted to take a photograph looking into the front of it. The corrector lenses are the two lenses that you're looking through at the front of the scope - almost 3/4 of an inch of glass. To see what Mira looked like without the anti-reflection coating click here to see an older photograph. Notice the reflection of the camera tripod in the two photographs. The reflection is very low with the coated lenses.
The new photograph also shows how dark the interior has been made by the use of flocked paper to line the inside of the telescope tube. The contrast of the views through the scope has been substantially increased by these two additions to the telescope.
Photographer: Rick Scott
Date: November 11, 2005
Camera: Canon EOS 20D digital camera
Lens: Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L USM at 35mm
Exposure: 1/6 second at f/16
Camera Mode: ISO 100 RAW
Software: Adobe Photoshop CS2 for RAW conversion and image processing
Updated: December 14, 2017