Types of Telescopes and Mounts

Telescopes:

Refractor

Advantages Simple- thus easy and

reliable
Good for close objects
(Moon, planets, double stars)

Reflector
(Newtonian)
Made of fiberglass or
cardboard tube and
mirrors. Easy to make
= Cheap per inch!

Relatively compact
Closed tube not affected
by dew inside.
Good for distant, deep
sky objects
Little maintenance.
Overall fewer optical
aberrations.
Disadvantages Made of metal and lenses. Open tube:
Harder to make = More
-air currents and dew
expensive per inch
can enter the
telescope
Lots of cheap bad ones
around
Often mirror aberration
(off-axis coma)
Not suited for deep sky
objects
not preferred for close
(nebulas, star clusters,
stuff
galaxies)
eyepiece set high up.
heavier, longer and bulkier Larger telescopes
need a stepladder!
Some color aberration

Catadioptric
(Schmidt-Cassegrain)
Has both lenses and
mirrors so many
disadvantages of other
scopes are canceled.
Short barrel- more portable.
Good for both deep sky
and close objects.
Closed tube not affected
by dew inside.
Made of metal, mirrors and
lenses. Harder to make
= More expensive.
Short-barreled and funnylooking. Newcomers are
put off from buying due to
unusual appearance.

Mounts:

Altitude-Azimuth
Equatorial mount
(most common type is Dobsonian)
Explanation: Moves on a pivot anywhere to
Pivot pointed north so scope is aligned with the
any altitude or azimuth
earths axis. Moves N-S and E-W. has circles
measured in degrees for Declination and R.A.
Advantages
Simple!
Once aligned it is very easy to keep objects in
view (less maneuvering)

Disadvantages Hard to keep objects in view

(have to keep adjusting every
few minutes!)

Can add clockwork to adjust automatically

-no work! (it can be computerized to go to
any programmed star)
Fiddly to set up
Often harder to transport