There are many different types of telescopes available for those interested in exploring the night sky. The three main types of telescopes are refracting telescopes, reflecting telescopes, and catadioptric telescopes, with many variations and hybrid designs for each type.
A Dobsonian telescope with a healthy aperture is great for enjoying real-time views of the brighter objects in the sky, while a refractor telescope is best used with a camera attached, to photograph faint deep-sky objects.
The main goal of any astronomical telescope is to gather light. Therefore, the two most important factors when choosing a telescope will be your desired focal length (magnification) and aperture (how bright the object will appear).
These two factors will create a unique viewing experience based on the type of experience you are looking for (i.e. visual vs astrophotography).
I have recently had the incredible opportunity to try out an enormous 132mm refractor telescope for some deep-sky astrophotography. Connecting a DSLR camera to a telescope like this is something I never dreamed I would have the pleasure of doing. This is as good as it gets for fans of the apochromatic refractor telescope design….
The Meade 70mm Quadruplet APO is a high-quality imaging refractor for wide-field astrophotography. This compact telescope utilizes FPL-53 ED glass to produce images with impressive color correction. The quadruplet lens system design results in an ultra flat-field, without the need for an additional field flattener. In November, I was given a chance to test the…
The William Optics Zenithstar 61 is a doublet apochromatic refractor telescope that excels in deep-sky DSLR astrophotography. The Z61 is the most portable telescope ever made by William Optics, a company with a reputation for building beautiful astrophotography refractors. In this review, I’ll tell you why I think the William Optics Zenithstar 61 is a…
Collimating a Newtonian telescope is something every backyard astronomer should experience. In this post, I align my 8″ Orion Astrograph Newtonian for a night of astrophotography in the backyard. My deep-sky target is M101 – The Pinwheel Galaxy – in the constellation Ura Major. With a proper alignment of the mirrors in this reflector, I…