How Do Telescopes Work?

A telescope is an optical device which helps us to view distant objects so that they appear closer to us so that we can study them easier.  The most popular use of a telescope is to view the planets and stars in outer space. Telescopes range in price from cheap dollar store tubes to the extremely expensive Hubble Telescope that orbits the Earth. But, at the heart of it, there are two types of telescopes:  Refractors that use a glass lens and Reflectors use mirrors to concentrate and reflect light.

The objective lens of a refractor telescope or the primary mirror of a reflector telescope gathers incoming light and brings it to a focus at a focal point.  The eyepiece of a telescope takes that light and magnifies it by taking the small image and spreading it out to make it look bigger to the eye.

There are two general principles in how any telescope works.  The first one is how well it can collect light using it’s mirror’s and/or lenses.  The other factor is the magnification of the image that is being viewed. This is determined by the diameter of the lens or of the mirror. Obviously, the more light that is collected, the brighter and more defined the image will be.

Magnification is the ability to take a target object which is at far distance and enlarge it so one can see it clearly.  Magnification power can be determined by using different powers of eyepieces. How well the remote object can be viewed will depend upon on the luminosity of the object you are trying to view through the telescope.

Related Articles:

1. Telescope Basics What kind of telescope do you need? A Reflector or Refractor? What kind of base to you need? This article will help......
2. Cheap Telescopes I prefer to buy cheap telescopes. It’s like we’ve created a bunch of cheap telescopes clones. I want to be safe. As we have said before about cheap telescopes but in order to make them like virtual telescope because you think that people will look at you more. The problem...
3. Meade Telescopes I started using the telescope at an early age and my first telescope was a Meade Telescope. I have supreme confidence in reflector telescopes and I get a bang out of telescope. Once it considered space as empty; now it knows that every cubic inch of it quivers with greater...