The Glossary of Telescopes

When you enter into any new field of science, you almost continually find yourself with a baffling new language of technical terms to learn before you can converse with the experts. This is definitely true in astronomy both in terms of terms that allude to the cosmos and terms that explicate the tools of the trade, the most dominant being the telescope. So to get us off of first base, let’s define a few of the key terms that pertain to telescopes to assist you be able to chat to them more intelligently.

The first field of specialization in telescopes is related to the sorts of telescopes people use. The 3 designs of telescopes that most people use are the Refractor, the Reflector and the Schmidt Cassegrain telescope.

* The refractor telescope uses a convex lens to focus the light on the eyepiece.

* The reflector telescope has a concave lens which signifies it bends in. It uses mirrors to focus the picture that you eventually see.

* The Schmidt Cassegrain telescope uses an involucred system of mirrors to catch the picture you wish to see.

* A binocular telescope uses a set of telescopes mounted and synchronized so your view of the sky is 3-D.

Beyond the simple types, other terms allude to parts of the telescope or to the science behind how telescopes work.

* Collimation is a phrase for how well tuned the telescope is to give you a good clear picture of what you are searching at. You wish your telescope to have good collimation so you aren’t getting a false picture of the celestial body.

* Aperture is a fancy word for how enormous the lens of your telescope is. But it’s a critical word for the reason that the aperture of the lens is the main factor to how strong your telescope is. Magnification has nothing to do with it, its all in the aperture.

* Focuser is the housing that holds the eyepiece of the telescope, or what you will look by ways of, in place. The focuser has to be steady and in good fix for you to have an picture you can rely on.

* Mount and Wedge. Both of these terms allude to the tripod your telescope sits on. The mount is the actual tripod and the wedge is the device that lets you attach the telescope to the mount. The mount and the wedge are there to help you with a superior viewing session and to keep your pricey telescope secure from a fall.

* An Altazimuth Mount relates to the tripod of the telescope that maintains the device in place and turns it useful throughout a famous person gazing session. The altazimuth mouth enables the telescope to move both horizontally (which is the azimuth) and vertically. In this way you have full range to look at things more or less the horizon or completely overhead.

* Coma has a different meaning than the one we are used to, and that’s a good thing. The coma is the blurry field on the outer rims of your view by ways of the telescope. How enormous the coma is and to what extent it interferes with your viewing will have is critical to the productiveness of your telesscope.

* Planisphere. A fancy word for a famous person chart. It is nothing less or more than a detailed map of where everything is in the cosmos and how to find the famous person you need to study by keying off of known personalities.

* Barlow. This relates to a specialized form of lens that you can purchase to optimize the magnification of your telescope.

These are very few of the simple concepts of telescope surgical procedure. We intentionally picked the ones you have to know to discuss telescopes intelligently. But your education into the more complicated aspects of astronomy and telescope design and surgical procedure will go on for as long as you are a lover of astronomy, which we hope is for the rest of your life.