Baffling of Mewlon & other Tak compounds

Can anyone with a Takahashi Mewlon, TSC, CN or other Takahashi cassegrainean derived design tell me about the inner tube baffling? Are there baffles along the inside of the tube like a refractor? I would love to take a look down one of those scopes' tubes one time. Another curiosity is the baffling of the AP Mak 10" and how they got away with a ~26% central obstruction and a 2" focuser, without letting in starlight to the focal plane.

Other than the great figure on the Tak optics, I am curious about what makes these scopes so good.

Thanks in advance . .

Jeff Quinn

From AP's web site:

"This 10" Mak-Cas design has a 23% central obstruction for highest possible planetary contrast at high powers. This obstruction also acts as a baffle to keep stray light from the sky from falling directly on the eyepiece. For high-power eyepieces, a 23% obstruction is enough to fully shield the field of view from this stray light. When the field of view exceeds about 1 inch diameter, light from the sky can leak past the front baffle and reduce the contrast at the edge of the field. Therefore, for low-power, widefield viewing with 2" eyepieces, we provide a larger secondary baffle that will increase the front baffle size to 32% to block this stray light in the outer portions of the field. This is needed primarily when sky light-polution is high and you are using low-power widefield eyepieces to observe faint deep-sky objects. Under dark skies, there will be no difference in contrast. Note: this secondary baffle threads onto the front of the corrector."

If you ever get a chance to see an AP mak in person, shine a flashlight at the meniscus and you'll see another reason for the scope's superb contrast. The coatings, which cost AP ~$800 per scope, are incredible. The secondary appears to be floating in mid air. Experienced observers' initial comment upon first observation with this scope is to express awe over the contrast.

Paul Gustafson

The main OTA tube of the Mewlon 300 has a flat black interior surface with a sandpaper-like finish, similar to that used by TeleVue in their refractors. The central tube has a grooved matte black interior, as well as six knife-edge baffles, approximately 1.5" apart, near the eyepiece end of the tube.

Mike R.