!/20th wave I sure as hell don't believe it, From machine made optics!
Yeah right. Hey I have this slightly used bridge up sale in Brooklin any
takers. I sell it to you cheap. Hey in the same breath I also heard 1/38th wave
surfaces from china too. This is definately the marketing department talking.

The kind of figures I read here means that on a night of really good
seeing I which happens from time to time in Arizona like last spring south of
Ariz city we did get some .5 arc second seeing. We should be able to take that
achromat all the way to 500 x that is 100x per inch of aperture on the
planets. The only scopes I have been able to get away with this on has been my
AP 155 F7 my AP 130 F6 and my 6 inch Quantum Maksutov. I still have yet to see
any chinese refractor that can come anywhere close to this most of them seem to
start petering out at around 200 to 275 x this tells me they are only 1/4 wave
RMS and probably undercorrected and that's without even looking at them!

If you really want to wave rate an optic the only way this can be done is
with a double pass interferometer under "Controlled" conditions. The person
doing the testing should also know how to use the device as well.

Looking at a star under the night sky under questionable conditions don't
cut it.

The best test that any amatuer can do realistically under a night of good
seeing is look at Jupiter under high magnification. How much detail do you see.
I really decent 6 inch recfractor should be able to reveal detail inside
Jupiter's GRS. How does Jupiter appear in the telescope next to your setup.

My favorite contest is to compare a refractor with a Newtonian with
hand figured optics with a known wavefront. The only scopes I've seen that can
pass this acid test are the AP's and Tak's I have yet to see any other that
can.

Now you have to ask me this do I believe these kinds of claims that the
manufactures of commercial grade opitcs tout. Hell know, What do you think I
just fell off the Turnup truck or something! From what I read on these various
groups I think people need a reality check. Consumerism in this country is
making everone muddleheaded. Amatuers need to learn how to start grinding and
polishing there own mirrors and learning how to really test optics with a knife
edge or Ronchi grating. Making a refractor is just one step above mirror making
but can be easily done there is no magic about it.

Clear Skies
Dwight L Bogan