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JudyReflecting telescopes use concave mirrors to focus and gather light. The concave shape of the mirror allows it to reflect light towards a common focal point, where the image is formed. This design provides better image quality and allows for larger apertures compared to refracting telescopes.
A reflecting telescope can be more compact and better able to withstand its own gravitational stresses, and you can get higher magnifications by "folding" the telescope through the use of mirrors.
A conventional refracting telescope using lenses rather than mirrors would collapse under its own weight before you could even APPROACH the size of a large reflecting telescope.
Additionally, all lenses absorb some small fraction of the light passing through them. Reflecting mirrors can be made almost 100% efficient, losing very little of the light.
The lens must be transparent. The mirror must only be solid.
The lens must be perfect through and through. The mirror only needs a perfect surface.
The lens needs two perfectly shaped surfaces. The mirror needs only one.
The lens can be supported only around its edge. The mirror can be supported at
as many points across its back as desired.
1). The light doesn't go through the mirror, it only hits one surface of the mirror
and bounces back in the direction it came from. So you can use anything you want
to support the weight of the mirror from behind it, whereas you can only support a
lens around its edge.
2). The light doesn't go through the mirror, it only hits one surface of the mirror
and bounces back in the direction it came from. So the mirror doesn't need to be
made of super-quality optical glass. It only needs to be glass that holds its shape
when the temperature changes. For a lens, you have to be very strict about how
the glass will affect light that passes through it, but that doesn't matter for a mirror.
3). For that matter, since the light doesn't go through the mirror and it only hits
one surface and bounces back in the direction it came from, the mirror doesn't
even have to be made of glass. You can use any material you want, as long as
you can carve the proper shape into one surface of it, and expect it to keep its
shape when the temperature changes. Newton had a reflecting telescope with
a brass mirror.
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How are reflecting and refracting telescopes different?
Reflecting telescopes use mirrors to collect and focus light, while refracting telescopes use lenses. Reflecting telescopes typically have a closed tube design which protects the mirrors from dust and other contaminants, while refracting telescopes are more prone to chromatic aberration. Reflecting telescopes are generally easier to manufacture at larger sizes compared to refracting telescopes.
Differences between reflecting and refracting telescopes?
Reflecting telescopes use mirrors to collect and focus light, while refracting telescopes use lenses. Reflecting telescopes tend to be less affected by chromatic aberration compared to refracting telescopes. Reflecting telescopes are generally easier and cheaper to construct for larger apertures.
What type of telescope concave mirrors to gather light and view the image?
Reflecting telescopes use concave mirrors to gather and focus light to form an image. The primary mirror in a reflecting telescope collects incoming light and reflects it to a secondary mirror, which then directs the light to the eyepiece or camera for viewing. This design is commonly used in telescopes like Newtonian reflectors and Cassegrain telescopes.
Why do reflecting telescopes use con cave mirrors and not convex mirrors?
Convex mirrors spread and not focus light. They do the opposite of concentrating and magnifying. They are the mirror image of what a concave telescope is and does. Pun intended.
What is the difference between a reflecting telescope a refracting telescope and a radio telescope?
Reflecting telescopes are usually designed to capture and concentrate light through the use of a large concave mirror which focuses the captured light on a smaller, flat mirror which in turn reflects it to the eye or a camera. Refracting telescopes use convex lenses to capture light and focus it where the eye or a camera is. Radio telescopes collect long wavelength radiation (radio waves and microwaves) and are all forms of reflecting telescope. The first telescopes were refracting telescopes, because the technology existed to form the needed sizes of convex lenses. Reflecting telescopes were developed later, when advancing technology provided the means of making very regular concave mirrors. All the largest modern telescopes are variations on the reflecting telescope design because it is easier to make and manage very large concave mirrors than it is to make lenses of equivalent light collecting power.
