Reflector telescopes. kindof a dumb question?

Question

when you look through a reflector telescope, do you see the secondary mirror? I mean does it block the center of the view.
I never looked through one, and have always wondered.

Answer 1

No, you don't see the mirror.
Because of the curvature of the main mirror in the rear cell, the entering light rays are focused to a point just outside of the scope's body tube, where it is then focused in the eyepiece.
The secondary mirror does block out a portion of the incoming light though, resulting in a slightly dimmer image than you would have seen through a refracting telescope.

Answer 2

Yes and no. While in focus you will not notice the presence of the secondary mirror, but out of focus stars will look like donuts. This is normal for all reflecting telescopes except for the few that are unobstructed, in other words they don't place anything in the light path. The loss of light is small but not serious because an average Newtonian's diagonal at most blocks a few percent of the incoming light. Also the center of the primary mirror may have an imperfection that the secondary mirror masks from incoming light, eliminating it's effect upon the views you see through the telescope.

Answer 3

Only when the focuser is way out of the way and your looking at a full moon. Planets do it to when out of focus. But the ray
paths can converge from the primary mirror around the secondary mirror.

Answer 4

No, because it is so close and out-of-focus.

Imagine looking at a window screen. From a few feet away, you can easily see the screen, but if you put your face right up against it, you can barely see it.

Answer 5

Hi. Actually that is all you see. The main mirror is a reflection.

Answer 6

It just seems to fill in. No problem.