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Basic Telescope Designs

The job of a telescope is to collect light, not to magnify an image (the eyepiece does that job). The larger the objective (the part that collects the light) whether it be a lens, in refractors, or a mirror, in reflectors, the more light the telescope will collect. The more light you can collect, the more detail you will be able to capture, and also important for astrophotography, the shorter your exposures will need to be to capture this detail.

Refractor Telescopes

The type of telescope most people visualize when they hear the word telescope is the 'Refractor'. This is what Galileo used for his break-thru discoveries. A refractor has an objective lens at the front which passes the light straight through to the back of the tube, focusing this light at an eyepiece or for astrophotography a camera.

Advantages:

-No central obstruction (see more in the reflecting scopes), giving higher contrast.

-Due to the simple design they require little maintenance.

-Excellent for planetary and lunar viewing and photography.

-Excellent for wide field viewing and astrophotography especially in shorter focal lengths (more on this later).

-Because the objective is permanently mounted and aligned there is no need for collimation (again more on this in another article).

-Excellent color in apochromatic and ED (Extra Dispersion) designs.

Disadvantages:

-Costlier per inch of aperture (objective) than reflectors and catadioptric telescopes.

-Can become bulky and difficult to manage, especially in larger lens designs.

Newtonian Telescopes

This design was invented by Sir Isaac Newton (he of the apple on the head fame). Instead of a lens at the front of the tube this telescope design uses a concave, parabolic mirror to collect light reflecting it back towards the front of the tube to a flat diagonal mirror which reflects the light out the side of the telescope to the eyepiece or camera for astrophotography.

Advantages:

-Lowest cost per inch of all the telescope designs.

-More light gathering power per dollar because of the lower cost design.

-Absolutely perfect color rendition.

-More compact design compared to a refractor of similar light gathering ability.

-Excellent contrast for planetary and lunar astrophotography and viewing in longer focal lengths.

-Can get excellent wide-field astrophotos and short exposures in shorter focal lengths.

Disadvantages:

-Slight loss of contrast due to the central obstruction (the flat secondary mirror) as compared to a refractor.

-Requires more maintenance, such as collimation (discussed in another article) which is vital for great results in your astrophotography, although you will learn how to do this quickly with practice.

Schmidt-Cassegrain Telescopes

This is a very popular design, with a high tech look. Also known as a CAT (Catadrioptics). They use a combination of lenses and mirrors to collect and focus the light onto the eyepiece or camera. The light enters the telescope through a thin 'lens' called a schmidt corrector plate, goes to the back of the scope to a spherical primary mirror which reflects the light back towards the front. Here the light strikes another mirror, the secondary mirror which is mounted on the corrector plate. This secondary mirror then reflects the light back towards the back where it is focused onto a hole in the primary mirror where the light is collected by an eyepiece or your astrophotography camera.

Advantages:

-Compact and portable.

-Low maintenance although once again collimation is required for top performance.

-Many, many astrophotography accessories available.

-Cheaper per inch of aperture as compared with refractors.

-Excellent all-round telescope, good to very good for both visual and astrophography.

-Very good for planetary and lunar viewing and astrophotography.

-Very good to excellent for DSO (Deep Space Object) astrophotography with a caveat (see the disadvantages).

-Very good to excellent optics, both Meade and Celestron are putting out excellent optics on a consistant basis.

Disadvantages:

-Costlier per inch of aperture as compared with Newtonian telescopes.

-Loss of contrast due to the central obstruction which is even larger than that in the Newtonian scopes.

-Due to their longer focal lengths the field of view is smaller and longer exposures are required for astrophotography, although a lens known as a focal reducer is available which minimizes or removes this problem. The longer focal length is actually an advantage in planetary and lunar photography.

Maksutov-Cassegrain

The Maksutov-Cassegrain telescope design is basically the same as the Schmidt-Cassegrain design except it uses a meniscus lens at the front instead of a Schmidt corrector plate. The main advantage to the Mak telescope design is you will get sharper higher contrast planetary and lunar images when compared with the Schmidt design.

1.

Constellation Scorpius Canon EF 35mm f/2 lens @ f/4 for 30 minutes Kodak EliteChrome 200 pushed 1 stop Guided by SBIG ST-4 on Losmandy GM-8 mount Texas Star Party 18 May 2004 about 2:00 am
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2. Scorpius, the Scorpion

Scorpius, the Scorpion Outline of the constellation Scorpius Back to Index
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3. Moon Phase Prediction Software & eBook.

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4.

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5. Bondian.com - Books - Scorpius

... edition American hardcover edition American paperback edition American large print edition Scorpius By John Gardner (1988) John Gardnerís seventh James Bond novel. Publication History British ...
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6.

Scorpio The constellation, Scorpius the scorpion. Click on image for full size (24K JPG) Chris Gleason, Windows to the Universe Original To the ancient Greeks, the constellation Scorpius was the ...
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7. Feb 1999 - Time Cycle of the Lunar Occultation of Scorpius X-1

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8. APOD: 2004 February 22 - The M7 Open Star Cluster in Scorpius

... 2004 February 22 The M7 Open Star Cluster in Scorpius Credit & Copyright: N. A. Sharp, REU Program, AURA, NOAO, NSF Explanation: M7 is one of the most prominent open clusters of stars on the sky. The ...
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9.

Scorpius Linked Cast aluminum dimentions variable 1998
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10. The Rho Region - Scorpius

Subject: The Glorious Rho Ophiuchi Region - Scorpius Exposure: Composite of three 40-minute exposures Processing: PW Pro 2.5 & Adobe Photoshop CS Camera: Pentax 67 Lens: Pentax 165mm @ f/2.8 Film ...
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11. Astronomy Art Photos - The Constellation of Scorpius Chart - Spaceshots

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12.

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14. Constellation Scorpius

The Constellation Scorpius Mythology and History The Scorpion. Scorpius represents death, darkness, and everything that we look on as evil. Orion Boasted that so great was his might and skill as a ...
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15.


16. Scorpius Dykcenter - Gästbok

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18. Scorpius Dance Theatre

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19. scorpius.htm

Scorpius Map created in Guide 7.0 with the figure outline based on Johannes Hevelius' Uranographia ... ... its map. Scorpius commemorates the Scorpion sent to sting Orion. The showcase of this constellation ...
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20. Scorpius :: Index

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22. Scorpius by Jeff Ball

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23. Scorpius dark cloud

A dark cloud in Scorpius AAO image reference AAT 72. ´ Previous || Next ª Top left is NE. Image ... ... The source of the energy here is the Scorpius OB association, a group of brilliant, very hot stars ...
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24.

Scorpius Scorpius works for the Peacekeeper military, but only so far as working for them serves his purposes. His single-minded mission: to develop a means to control the creation, and travel ...
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25.

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26. M80 Globular Cluster in Scorpius

... M80 (Globular Cluster in Scorpius) 1 Discovered by Charles Messier in 1781 Located approximately 28,000 light years from the Earth in the constellation Scorpius, M80 contains several 100,000s of ...
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28. Hexapedia - Scorpius (Farscape)

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29. BBC - Doctor Who - Cyberman: Scorpius

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