Altair PlanoStar 2" 1.0x Flattener for 80mm F6 Triplet APO

This field flattener is designed to work with the Altair Astro Starwave 80mm F6 ED Triplet APO. It has an M48 rear thread adaptor for connecting your DSLR or CCD camera.

All triplet refractor lens systems with good colour correction exhibit some natural field curvature which, while not relevant for visual observation, can be visible in astro-images. This field flattener screws directly into the rear focuser rotator, converting it into an astrograph with a flatter photographic field than a triplet lens system alone. It does not change the focal length of the telescope significantly enough to affect subject framing.
 
Altair PlanoStar v2 Field Flattener specification:

• The ideal distance to CCD sensor from the rear of the rear shoulder (excluding the protruding M48 thread) is 55mm. Tests indicate that the flattener is tolerant about 1.0mm either side of this distance. The smaller your CCD chip, the less critical spacing becomes.
• The flattener is threaded directly to the rear of the focuser using the M63 thread. Simply remove the 2" push-fit adaptor from your focuser and screw the flattener into the rear of the focuser by means of the M63 rear thread.
• Corrects for field curvature and improves images taken with cameras up to APS size, allowing more of the photographic field to be utilised. It will also work with a full frame sensor, however you may need to crop the outer edges slightly, which in deep-sky imaging is frequently done anyway, due to minor alignment issues between frames.
• High quality multi-coatings on all surfaces ensure maximum transmission and almost zero reflections, however it is good practise to place any filters as far from the rear lens of the flattener as possible and as close to the camera sensor as possible. We recommend the Altair Magnetic filter holder for this purpose. 
• To connect a Canon DSLR you need a Canon/Nikon M48 DSLR Adaptor (available separately).
• To use with Altair Hypercam Cameras, please click here for camera spacer setup suggestions.