Observatory Student Invents Device Simplifying the Schmidt Sky Camera

Improvements of the famous Schmidt astronomical camera worked out by James G. Baker Junior Fellow, open possibilities of a new sky-camera which is now being constructed in cooperation with amateur Boston Telescope makers, it was announced by the Observatory yesterday.

The improved design enables considerable reduction in the length of the telescope and eliminates difficulty in operation. This simplification should aid the extension of amateur star gazing.

Another possibility envisaged by Mr. Baker is that the new design may prove useful for aerial and landscape photography, discounting its greater awkwardness by its faster lens and sharper definition.

The Schmidt camera is unique among astronomy telescope in giving sharp focus over a large area of the sky. Light enters the telescope through a correcting lens, travels onto a spherical concave mirror, and is reflected back onto the film which is also curved.

Curve of the film has previously caused difficulty because of the necessity of accuracy in some cases to about one hundredth of a millimeter.

The new design eliminates the necessity for curving the photographic plate by introducing another mirror, a convex spherical mirror onto which the light is reflected immediately before going to the plate.