Survey

The accomplished software allows projecting optical combinations for astronomy leading to schemes reaching the diffraction limit, if aimed to visual observation, or photographic, if intended for photography. Research has reached a deepened analysis of optical combinations used in astronomy (Schmidt, Houghton, Maksutov camera and corresponding Cassegrain combinations) to convey to a whole of formulas for which:
• It is possible to project Schmidt Cameras or Schimdt-Cassegrain telescopes with f/2 primary mirrors utilizing only a fourth profile corrector without resorting to sixth order profiles which are expensive to realize. The cameras or telescopes obtained in such a way meet the photographic limit or the visual limit;
• The Houghton combination, although it is simple and cheap to realize, has not found extensive use since it shows meaningful aberrations with primary mirrors with speed higher than f/4-f/5. By this software this combination gives excellent results with f/2 primary mirrors;
• The Maksutov and Maksutov Cassegrain can be projected to the limit of their possibilities;
• The achromatic or apo-chromatic doublets and apo-chromatic triplets, whose design is an hard problem requesting big computing efforts, can be projected in a few minutes and gives an excellent return;
• The software will provide the already optimized design of the all above combinations.
These considerations evidence that the design of astronomical optical combinations becomes an easy and cheap operation which does not need any optimization technique.