How to Choose a Telescope

Who has not wondered: Is there life on Mars? It opens up the wonderful world of constellations and nebulae most common telescope. This is an optical device that can be used to observe the heavenly bodies, or other distant objects. By choosing him Treat with the utmost seriousness.

1
How to choose a telescope - refractor

This telescope lens consisting of a lens. These in turn are subdivided into achromats, ED-refractors and apochromatic:

Achromatic lenses made of different glasses: one of the optical glass crown and the other of flint. Chromatic aberration (distortion images) therein decreases slightly with decreasing aperture ratio.
The design of ED-apochromatic refractors and used rare and expensive types of glass.

Generally, refractors are suitable for observing the Moon, planets and double stars, comets. They do not need long term stabilization. Such a telescope is easy to carry.

2
How to choose a telescope - reflectors

At the core of the optical system reflecting telescope is a concave mirror in the rear part of the tube. Newton is the most popular system. Newtonian telescopes combine the good light-collecting capability and affordable price. Lens diameter ranges from 76 mm to 600 mm. Therefore, the reflectors are very common among fans of astronomy.

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How to choose a telescope - katadioptriki

Katadioptriki combine the best features of refractors and reflectors. The most common telescopes Maksutov systems and Shmidt, as well as their varieties. These telescopes are lightweight, mobile and compact.

4
telescope mount

Mounting - this device, which fixes the telescope in the desired point, eliminating any vibration. There are two types of mounts:

Alt-azimuthal (Alt-AZ) Mounts allow you to rotate the pipe along the horizontal and vertical axis. Suitable for small refractors and katatioptrics. Dobson's mount is especially valued. The disadvantage is the inability to observe objects in the zenith.
Equatorial (EQ) mounts require accurate customization to the world pole. They are bulky, but the picture is cleaner.

5
General recommendations for choosing a telescope

Before buying, ask the size of the aperture. Apertura is the diameter of the lens, which is measured in inches or millimeters. What it is more, the more light can collect a telescope, and therefore show fuzzy items and details.
For observation in the city from the balcony of the apartment, with the illumination of the sky, select a compact telescope refractor with aperture 150-200 mm.
If you are going to contemplate stars outside the city with a complete absence of the illumination of the sky, give preference to the large refractor on the Dobson montage.

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Popular manufacturers of telescopes

Foreign Celestron, Orion, Meade, Sky Watcher and Bresser are distributed. In Russia, telescopes and equipment for them produces JSC "Schwab - Defense and Protection". Bestsellers: