What Is a Reflector Telescope?
The reflector uses a concave mirror that is placed in the back of the tube. The concave mirror reflects the light back to a much smaller mirror that is placed in the middle or front of the telescope. The little mirror then reflects the light to an eyepiece which in turn allows you to observe the universe. As a reflector utilizes a small mirror that is placed in the middle of the telescope it is said that the reflector performs not as well as the refractor because a small part of the light is blocked.
A reflector telescope is a type of telescope in which the objective lens used to collect light is a mirror. There are a number of variations on the basic reflector telescope design, ranging from hand-held telescopes designed to be used by amateur enthusiasts to huge observing telescopes located in laboratories all over the world. The quality of the telescope can vary considerably, depending on the size, the materials used in construction, and how well it is maintained. This telescope design was developed in the 1700s, when designers of optics struggled with chromatic aberrations which made observations unreliable. The original reflector telescope consisted of a simple cylinder with a large parabolic mirror mounted in one end. The light hit the mirror, and the curved shape reflected the light back and focused it into a point which would meet the viewer’s eye at the eyepiece. Later designs used a secondary mirror to reflect the focused light to an eyepiece. Magnifying lenses can also be
Instead of a lens, reflector telescopes use a series of mirrors. The main mirror is located at the bottom of the telescope. This mirror collects light and reflects it up to a secondary mirror which reflects the image out the side of the tube. You look through an eyepiece on the side of the telescope instead of the bottom like a refractor.
A reflector telescope uses mirrors for astronomical observations and is also called a “mirror telescope”, a “Newtonian telescope” or “reflector”. The first practical application for astronomical observations was developed by Sir Isaac Newton in 1668. Picture 4: A reflector telescope (also called a mirror telescope or Newtonian telescope) The reflector uses a concave mirror that is placed in the back of the tube. The concave mirror reflects the light back to a much smaller mirror that is placed in the middle or front of the telescope. The little mirror then reflects the light to an eyepiece which in turn allows you to observe the universe. As a reflector utilizes a small mirror that is placed in the middle of the telescope it is said that the reflector performs not as well as the refractor because a small part of the light is blocked. The real reason why reflectors sometimes have a lesser reputation than the refractor is because the building quality. The reflector has only 1 optical act