What is the difference between refractors and reflectors?

What is the difference between refractors and reflectors?

The reflector telescopes are composed of mirrors whereas the refractor telescopes are only made of lenses. They are a lot of differences between both of these categories, in terms of performances, durability and especially optical quality.

What is the difference between a refracting and a reflecting telescope?

The main difference between a refracting telescope and a reflecting telescope is how they magnify light from distant objects. A refracting telescope uses convex lenses to refract or bend light toward a focal point, while a reflecting telescope uses a concave mirror to redirect light toward a focal point.

What is better a reflector or refractor telescope?

If you are interested in astrophotography, purchasing a refractor is a better option because of it’s specialized optic design that captures deep space objects like galaxies and nebulae. If you are interested in brighter celestial objects like the Moon or planets or a beginner, a reflector telescope is ideal.

What can you see with a refractor telescope?

60-70 mm refractors, 70-80 mm reflectors:

  • binary stars with angular separation of over 2″, e.g. Albireo, Mizar, etc.;
  • faint stars (up to 11.5 stellar magnitude);
  • sunspots (with an aperture filter);
  • phases of Venus;
  • lunar craters (8 km in diameter);
  • polar ice caps and maria on Mars during oppositions;

Do astronomers use reflecting or refracting telescopes?

Reflecting telescopes use mirrors to help astronomers see more clearly far-away objects in space. A mirror collects light from objects in space, forming the image. This first mirror, which can be very wide, reflects the image to another mirror.

Can you see the Moon with a refractor telescope?

Using a telescope One of the most useful ones is the “Sky & Telescope Field Map of the Moon,” available in both normal and mirror-reversed versions. The latter is mainly for observers with refractors and Cassegrain telescopes, which reverse the moon’s image left to right.