HX-80 · 80 mm f/6
The travel instrument. Fits a carry-on with the diagonal attached, resolves the Trapezium's E and F stars on a still night. 3.4 kg.
Hand-figured in Flagstaff, Arizona
Triplet apochromats with FPL-53 centre elements, figured and tested one at a time against an artificial star. Every instrument ships with its own interferogram. Not a batch number: yours.
λ/8.2
Median wavefront error
0.31″
Measured spot, on-axis
18
Built per month, maximum
Optical path · HX-102 triplet
f/7.0
01 / Instruments
The travel instrument. Fits a carry-on with the diagonal attached, resolves the Trapezium's E and F stars on a still night. 3.4 kg.
The one most people keep. Enough aperture for planetary detail, short enough to stay on a modest mount. Our best-selling figure.
Built to order, eight per quarter. Cassini division at 200× on an average night, and a wavefront figure we will put in writing.
02 / The Optics
Each surface is polished against a test plate and corrected by hand. A moulded element is fast and repeatable; it is also within a wave of correct, which is not the same as correct.
Interferometry says what the glass is. An artificial star at 400× says what you will see. We do both, and ship the plots for both.
Roughly one element in nine does not make it out of the shop. That is the whole reason we can only build eighteen instruments a month.
03 / Specifications
| Model | Aperture | Focal length | Wavefront | Weight | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HX-80 | 80 mm | 480 mm · f/6.0 | λ/8.4 | 3.4 kg | $2,180 |
| HX-102 | 102 mm | 714 mm · f/7.0 | λ/8.2 | 5.1 kg | $3,460 |
| HX-130 | 130 mm | 910 mm · f/7.0 | λ/9.1 | 8.6 kg | $6,900 |
| HX-130 FL | 130 mm | 910 mm · f/7.0 | λ/10.2 | 8.4 kg | $9,400 |
Wavefront figures are median measured values across the last 40 units, not a specification ceiling.
Your optics should not be the thing standing between you and the seeing. Configure an instrument, or write to us and describe what you observe.
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