Newport Glass Works coats other non-standard mirror sizes. The above chart was provided for standard size mirror blanks. Call for a quotation if you have a size that is not set forth above.

The above codes cover the aluminum coating of both the primary mirror and the secondary mirror used in Newtonian or Cassegrainian systems.

There is a stripping charge to remove the old aluminum coating prior to applying a new aluminum coating to the parts.

There is a protective over coat placed on the aluminum coating to seal from moisture and give it some protection so that it can be "gentle" cleaned from time to time. Just as your mirror’s current coating has become oxidized over time, so will the new coating oxidize over a period of years. The speed of this oxidation will depend to a great extent on how you handle it.

Selection Guide: Standard aluminizing usually results in a reflectivity of 88 percent or higher over the visible transmission range (450 nm to 1000nm). Enhanced aluminum coatings usually results in a reflectivity of 92 percent or higher in a narrow range of the visible light spectrum (the range selected is usually around 550 nm were the human eye is most sensitive). The reflectivity for enhanced aluminum usually forms a bell shaped curve centered at 550nm and then tapers off to less then 88 percent as the curve approaches the ultra-violet and infrared regions. This may affect the intensity of hues in both ends of the visible spectrum where it approaches the ultraviolet and infrared regions. As a result, photographs taken with standard aluminum coating may be better in these regions when compared to photographs taken with a system having mirrors with enhanced aluminum coating. In general, standard aluminum coating is sufficient for most applications.

If the fabricator is concern about energy through put on his/her system and if the his/her wants to maximum his/her funds that he/she has to invest in a telescope, than he/she may be better off selecting the standard coating and spending more money on the eyepieces. Within any given eye piece there could be 5 or more lens. Each lens surface (2 surfaces per lens) could lose up to 5 t0 6 percent of the light energy reaching it if it does not have a good anti-reflective coating on it, e.g., a 5 lens system could lose as much as 50 percent of light energy before the image reaches the viewer's eye.

Other aluminizing services are available upon request.