Fourstars-- good job. That looks like it was a lot of work. You show great skills to make this with a scroll saw.

David(greeps) I assume by narrower cutout you are referring to more as well as narrow, so yes it will brighten up the spikes to allow you to focus on a dim star. But in reality it is more practical to make cuts that are comfortable and easy to cut. Plus very narrow cuts tend to get flimsy and could bend or break.

You can also use a longer exposure time to focus on a dim star, so don’t worry too much about cutting narrow slots.

Did you read all 23 pages?

That must have taken a while. I’ve read them all too, but not all at one time.

One more tip- if you have a binoviewer you can use the mask to balance the focus between the two eyepieces.