Reflecting Telescope

Like choosing a car there is no “best” telescope that suits everyone. Indeed the right telescope for you depends entirely on your lifestyle and your astronomy activities. Refractor or reflecting telescope; that is usually what it comes down to when people are making their ultimate choice. So let’s take a minute to look at how you choose a telescope, and then examine each type of telescope in a little more detail.

Spending a little time working out your purpose for having a telescope will help you decide whether you want to purchase a refractor or reflecting telescope. Ultimately, the first thing to understand is that magnifying power is not the most important thing to think about when you are choosing a telescope. In fact, it is actually the telescope’s light-gathering capability, or aperture, that determines how much you will be able to see. This is how you determine what you need.

When it comes to a refractor as opposed to a reflector telescope, a small, quality achromatic refractor of 60mm to 80mm aperture is the ideal telescope for a beginner astronomer who just needs a smaller scale scope for observing things like the Moon and major planets. Refractors of this nature tend to be fairly inexpensive, are portable, and maintenance-free — which makes them ideal for newbie’s to the world of astronomy.

A reflector telescope on the other hand, tend to more all round scopes that offer generous apertures at affordable prices which means that they are perfect for viewing both planetary and deep-sky viewing. They come in smaller 3" and 4.5" portable options. 6” and 8" options that have enough aperture to deliver images of fainter fare-clusters, galaxies, and nebulas-especially in a fairly dark sky.

So now that you’ve had the crash course on choosing a refractor or reflector telescope remember the key to success in ensuring that you buy one with as much aperture as you can handle, but not more, or else you will be doing the image quality a disservice.

telescope eyepieces