Home > Physics > Advanced Optics Applications

Why doe most telescopes use a primary mirror rather than an objective lens?

Answer 1

Charles Aeschliman

There are several causes:

And more. Using refractors has certain benefits as well.

By signing up, you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Answer 2

Nora Arzate

Most telescopes use a primary mirror instead of an objective lens because mirrors can be made much larger and lighter than lenses, allowing for larger aperture sizes. Additionally, mirrors suffer less from chromatic aberration, which is a distortion of images caused by the different wavelengths of light bending by different amounts when passing through a lens. Mirrors are also easier and cheaper to manufacture to precise specifications.

By signing up, you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Answer from HIX Tutor

When evaluating a one-sided limit, you need to be careful when a quantity is approaching zero since its sign is different depending on which way it is approaching zero from. Let us look at some examples.