Question

What is Reflecting Telescope?

Answer

Telescopes with mirror objectives are called Reflecting Telescopes. They have several advantages. First, there is no chromatic aberration in a mirror. Second, if a parabolic reflecting surface is chosen, spherical aberration is also removed. Mechanical support is much less of a problem since a mirror weighs much less than a lens of equivalent optical quality, and can be supported over its entire back surface, not just over its rim. One obvious problem with a reflecting telescope is that the objective mirror focuses light inside the telescope tube. One must have an eye-piece and the observer right there, obstructing some light (depending on the size of the observer cage). This is what is done in the very large 200 inch ( 5.08 m) diameters, Mt. Palomar telescope, California. The viewer sits near the focal point of the mirror, in a small cage. Another solution to the problem is to deflect the light being focused by another mirror. One such arrangement using a convex secondary mirror to focus the incident light, which now passes through a hole in the objective primary mirror. This is known as a Cassegrain telescope, after its inventor. It has the advantages of a large focal length in a short telescope. The largest telescope in India is in Kavalur, Tamil Nadu. It is a 2.34 m diameter reflecting telescope (Cassegrain). It was ground, polished, set up, and is being used by the Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bangalore. The largest reflecting telescopes in the world are the pair of Keck telescopes in Hawaii USA, with a reflector of 10 metre in diameter.