Difference between a reflection and refraction telescope?

Question

I am interested in gettign a telescope, both for myself and my daughter, and I want to know which one would be better.

Answer 1

The difference is in how they allow light to enter. A reflection scope uses mirrors to reflect the image to the eyepiece. They are usually shorter in length and wider in circumference. The refraction scopes are longer due to the actual length required to refract the light, or image, directly without mirrors.
They both are for the most part, equally as good...its just a matter of choice.

Go to Meade and or Orion Telescopes...or just telescopes through Goggle. Meade and Orion will even send you free catalogs. They have many packages to choose from based on your particular needs. Depending on how much you may wish to invest I hardily reccomend for it to be a sturdy one with a firm mount and stand.

For a few dollars more purchase a computerized one and it will do all the hunting for you. All you have to do is tell it where you want to look...it will do the rest. With this you can spend more time enjoying rather than searching.
My personal choice is Meade (its just a matter of choice, Orion is good also. I have both a refraction and reflector. The reflecter is easier to transfer and move about.
If you have cable or direct tv, check out the home shoping network for their next astronomy show. They will offer you about four or five popular options ( inculding beginner) to choose from.
Or you can go to their website.
I would look at the free catalogues first so as to get an over all look at the many, many, many choices.

Good luck and happy star gazeing.

Answer 2

REFLECTION TELESCOPE

A reflecting telescope (reflector) is an optical telescope which uses a combination of curved and plane (flat) mirrors to reflect light and form an image (catoptric), rather than lenses to refract or bend light to form an image (dioptric). The Italian monk Niccolo Zucchi is credited with making the first reflector in 1616, but his inability to shape the concave mirror accurately and the lack of means of viewing the image without blocking the mirror, caused Zucchi to give up on the idea. It was another 54 years before British scientist Sir Isaac Newton implemented the first reflector circa 1670. He designed the reflector in order to solve the problem of chromatic aberration, a serious degradation in all refracting telescopes before the perfection of achromatic lenses. The traditional two-mirrored reflecting telescope is known as a Newtonian reflector.

While the Newtonian focus design is still used in amateur astronomy, professionals now tend to use prime focus, Cassegrain focus, and coudé focus designs. By 2001, there were at least 49 reflectors with primary mirrors having diameters of 2 meters or more.


REFRACTION TELESCOPE

refracting or refractor telescope is a dioptric telescope that uses a lens as its objective to form an image. The refracting telescope design was originally used in spy glasses and astronomical telescopes but is also used in other devices such as binoculars and long or telephoto camera lenses

Answer 3

Reflecting telescopes: which uses a combination of curved and plane (flat) mirrors to reflect light and form an image (catoptric), rather than lenses to refract or bend light to form an image (dioptric).

A refracting or refractor telescope is a dioptric telescope that uses a lens as its objective to form an image.

Answer 4

Reflector telescopes use mirrors to collect light where refractors use lenses. The main advantage of reflectors is they are immune to chromatic aberration (colour fringes that result because different colours refract different amounts). However, a refractor is smaller and easier to handle than a reflector of similar performance.

So they both have strengths and weaknesses. Perhaps you can find your local astronomical society and go out to an observing night. That way you can try out different designs and get more detailed recommendations.

Answer 5

A reflection telescope uses a hollow mirror as the objective to make an image of the stars. That image will be seen with an ocular (lens).
A refraction telescope uses a lens as the objective to make an image of the stars. That image will be seen as well with an ocular (lens).

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Answer 6

Reflection telescopes are shorter, but the image is inverted and shrunk.
Refraction telescopes are longer, but you see the true image.

Answer 7

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Answer 8

Which one is better depends on what you want to do with it and how much money you want to spend.

I'd get a reflector or catadioptric because I can get a fairly large aperture one for under $1000, allowing me to see not just planets and star clusters, but many deep space objects such as galaxies as well. By contrast, a high quality apochromatic refractor will offer me excellent views of planets and star clusters but I'd only be able to afford a small one and so I wouldn't be able to see most deep space objects. A refractor large enough to see more than a few bright deep space objects is hard to find and costs tens of thousands of dollars. I might buy a small one as a specialty scope but for my main telescope I'd definatly want something with moer light collecting ability.

Here's a bit it more about reflectors, refractors, and catadioptrics that you should know if you're going to be purchasing a telescope.

Refractors use a lens up front to collect light and focus it to a bright little image which the eyepeice magnifies and you view through the back. Because of the way lenses work, the light does not focus perfectly. Different wavelengths, or colors, of light, focus at slightly different areas. This is called chromatic abberation and produces an image which may have a red halo on one side and a blue halo on the other. This is partially corrected for in achromatic refractors and almost completely corrected for in apochromatic refractors.

The larger the aperture, which is the diameter of the lens in refractors, and primary mirror in reflectors, the more light the telescope can collect, and the more you can see. It's difficult to make large, flawless lenses, so high quality or even decent quality refractors are the most expensive telescopes per inch of aperture so large ones are rare and tens of thousands of dollars. A good apochromatic refractor is excellent for viewing bright objects such as the moon, planets, and star clusters but typically don't have enough aperture for live viewing galaxies and fainter nebulas. They are also heavy for their size but tend to be sturdy and don't need the occasional adjustment that reflectors do.

Reflectors a large mirror in the back of the telescope, called a primary mirror, which collects light like a satellite dish and reflects it to a smaller secondary mirror mounted up front in the middle of the tube, which reflects the light into the eyepiece (upper side of the tube).It's easier and cheaper to make large mirrors than lenses so reflectors can be made with lots of aperture and typically don't suffer from any noticable defects when made by a reputable company. This means that you can get a telescope for under $1000 that you can see not just planets and star clusters in but galaxies and dimmer nebulas as well. Reflectors occasionally have to be collimated....this is a fancy word for adjusting the optics. A good telescope holds collimation for quite a while and when it does need to be adjusted it's typically just ever so slightly.

There's also another type of telescope called a catadioptric which works like a reflectors but the secondary mirror reflects the light back through a hole in the primary mirror and you view out the back. They also use a spherical mirror. Spherical mirrors suffer from something called spherical abberation and so they have a type of lens called a corrector plate up front. In some types of catadioptrics, such as Schmidt Cassegrains and hybrids such as Schmidt Newtonians, the plate can easily be made for larger diamaters so large aperture catadioptrics can be had for under $1000 as well. Catadioptrics have short, compact tubes making them easy to transport and store. They also have long focal lengths which offers advantages that some people like, such as higher magnification and more detail.....some people like shorter focal lengths for their wide field of view though which is optimal for viewing swaths of sky.

I hope this helps. I should mention that if you want to save some money, buying used is a good way to do it.

Some people will say refractors are better than reflectors. This isn't true. It's true that a high quality apochromatic refractor will outperform a reflector of the same size because they are usually very well made and collect more light. This is due to the fact that reflectors have a secondary mirror mounted in the middle of the tube and ths mirror creates and obstruction and the spider that holds it in place creates diffraction spikes on stars (this gives stars a typically star shape). A 60mm refractor will collect as much light as about a 4.3" reflector. But, reflectors typically aren't made that small and a refractor that will collect as much light as an 8" reflector or catadioptric is typically beyond the financial reach of most people.

Catadioptrics collect very very sligtly less light than a regular reflector because the corrector plate reflects a small amount of it but it's so small that it shouldn't be of any concern.

Answer 9

The larger the mirror in diameter represents the light gathering. the longer the focal length the more accurate the resolution.

Answer 10

Reflectors are more common for larger aperture amateur telescopes because they are so much more compact (shorter). I use a Cassegrain.

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