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A reflecting telescope uses curved mirrors and is shorter than the refracting telescope. The reflecting telescope has less achromatic aberrations, or in other words, less errors in focusing colors than the refracting telescope. Reflecting telescopes are usually a better type of telescope for the serious astronomer because of the better image and more compact size. There is one common factor in both the reflecting telescopes and refracting telescopes that is typical to the better quality telescopes and that is the quality of the tripod. A good tripod is a must. This is where a big part of the cost comes in. Just try pointing at a star with a cheap telescope and you will have a terrible time just finding the star. Where with the new, computer tracking telescopes, you just aim it at the North Star then press the button for the name of the star that you want to observe and your telescope will automatically find the new star. Also, another problem with looking at a star is the fact that the earth is constantly moving making it necessary to keep repositioning the telescope to keep your star in the telescopes field of vision. With the computer driven telescopes, the tracking is done for you, automatically. For these reasons a good telescope is going to cost you at least two hundred and fifty dollars, otherwise you are just buying a cheap toy that will not get used very often and you will probably find it ending up in a closet collecting dust. Buying a good telescope will give you many hours of very educational and enjoyable astronomy as a hobby. C. Jeff Dyrek. |
