The 3 Basic Types Of Telescopes
Since the beginning of modern astronomy, scientists have greatly improved in building high powered telescopes. The earliest known history of the modern telescope is in the 16th century Netherlands. Nowadays, telescopes can be found is a variety of shapes, types, and sizes. The prices of different telescopes vary significantly based on the task for which the telescope will be used. Astronomers generally place telescopes into one of two main categories. They are two types of telescopes: refractive and reflective.
Refractive telescopes have an optical device which collects light beams and gathers them on a mirror. Conversely, reflective telescopes spread out the ray of light on the mirror’s surface. Besides these two major types, there is also a pretty well known type, called a compound telescope. This type actually combines the qualities of the reflective and refractive telescopes. Combining these qualities may not necessarily mean that a compound telescope will be more effective. In theory, all of the three types have their advantages and drawbacks.
One typically thinks of refractive devices when considering telescopes. These have the far end open, and then slant towards the opposite, concealed end. A picture of this type is deeply embedded in our conscience as we have seen it numerous times in our text books. This kind is always available in local stores. The greatest advantage of refractive telescopes is that maintaining them is very easy. The tube is enclosed which keeps the glass surface protected from the outside elements such as heat, dust, and winds. The main disadvantage is that it suffers from chromatic aberration which is a defect that allows the light to form a rainbow around an image. That partially explains why refractive telescopes cannot view distant objects well, since the mirror may produce a dark image surrounded by a light spectrum.
