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The Story of the Maksutov-Cassegrain Telescope

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Can you tell me about the history of the Maksutov-Cassegrain telescope?

The Story of the Maksutov-Cassegrain Telescope

In 1944, Russian optician and astronomer, Dmitri Maksutov invented a catadioptric telescope, the Maksutov telescope. The catadioptric telescope is an optical system which uses both mirrors and lenses to reflect and refract light. This telescope was similar to its precursor, the Schmidt telescope, with the exception of an added feature, a spherical corrector plate which further removed any optical imperfections. John Gregory, an employee of the technology company Perkin-Elmer, published the first designs for the Maksutov-Cassegrain in a 1957 issue of Sky & Telescope magazine for the use of other amateur astronomers. The commercial creation of the Maksutov-Cassegrain was to be reserved for Perkin-Elmer. The Maksutov-Cassegrain telescope design employed the use of the Maksutov corrector plate in combination with the Cassegrain telescope, first developed by Laurent Cassegrain in 1672.

   

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