Telescope auxillary instruments cover a wide range of interests, from a sole eyepiece, via camera use, to high end spectroscopy. Unfortunately every telescope just features one exit port. This causes relentless manual exchange of parts in the dark, causing huge time loss, wear on the parts - and "nerves". And whenever you start controlling your telescope remotely - the single port becomes a painful reality.
Improving workflow, especially during astrophotography is the goal set out for the BFM II. This is not just a simple flip mirror but much more, as there are three ports to be put into action.
The FlipMirror II Star Diagonal allows a variety of permanent adaptations to your telescope 1 . Use the rotary knob2 to switch between the rear port 3 and the top port 4; you can use an optional toothed belt to operate it with a motor (not included). An autoguider or a calibration lamp can be connected to the bottom port 5.
General Function of the FlipMirror II Star Diagonal
The BFM II lets you switch between a straight light path (Position A) for a camera or other measuring instruments and an angled light path (Position B), e.g. for an eyepiece. The following figure shows how it works. In addition, a calibration lamp for spectrographs or an Off-Axis-Guider pickoff-prism (that is not affected by the mirror position) can be connected at the AUX-port on the bottom