Select Your First Telescope (Episode III: Reflector)

Reflectors usually use a concave, parabolic primary mirror to collect and focus incoming light onto a flat secondary mirror that in turn reflects the image out of an opening at the side of the main tube, into an eyepiece for viewing.

The easiest way to identify a reflector is by looking at the location of its eyepiece holder. It’s always near the top of the telescope itself.

Let’s look at the advantages and disadvantages now.

Reflector

Advantages

Lower cost per inch of aperture than refractors and catadioptrics because mirrors can be produced at less cost than lenses in refractors in medium to large apertures

Reasonably compact and portable

Excellent for faint, deep-sky objects, such as remote galaxies, nebulae and star clusters, because of their larger apertures

Deliver very bright images with few optical aberrations.

Disadvantages

Not suitable for terrestrial observation

Slight light loss due to obstruction from the secondary mirror

Tomorrow, I will write about my favourite, the catadioptrics as well as the conclusions of these episodes!