TheTelescope

When selecting a telescope, you must first know the things that you want and need. There are a lot of telescopes available in the market, thus you have to know which best suits you.

To help you find the telescope that would meet your tastes and preferences, here is a list of the four groups of telescopes along with their main features and drawbacks:

Group 1: Refractors

The first group of telescopes are called refractors. They represent the typical telescope that consists of a long tube and can be viewed from the rear end. This kind of telescope usually benefits beginners since it is made for viewing faraway objects such as the moon and other planets. Among their advantages include the basic, low maintenance design, sharp optics, and are easy to use. They are also the best ones to use when doing lunar and planetary viewing. However, they can be quite expensive as compared with other better telescopes that offer the same price.

Advantages:
+ sharp optics
+ easy to use
+ good value for money (up to about 100mm aperture)
+ Due to the simple design they require little maintenance.
+ Excellent for planetary and lunar viewing and photography.

Disadvantages:
- you can normally get a larger Newtonian at the same price
- Can become bulky and difficult to manage, especially in larger lens designs.

Group 2: Newtonians

Probably the best kind of telescopes you can find are Newtonians. They feature better optics as compared with refractors, and they can be used in different areas because they are more capable of gathering light. Newtonians are also more compact and don’t tend to be bulky, and they as well offer a good resolution for astrophotography. They also cost the same as refractors. Unlike refractors however, Newtonians are not user-friendly, and it takes quite a while before you get used to managing the telescope. While this telescope offers perfect color rendition, it doesn’t give sharp and crisp images of the moon and the other planets.

Advantages:
+ excellent value for money
+ more light-gathering power compared with equally priced refractors or Maksutovs
+ Absolutely perfect color rendition.
+ More compact design compared to a refractor of similar light gathering ability.
+ Excellent contrast for planetary and lunar astrophotography
Disadvantages:
- operation takes some getting used to
- not so sharp images of the planets and the moon

Group 3: Dobsonians

The third group of telescopes meanwhile are called Dobsonians. They are the most recommended telescopes when viewing the sky. They possess very large apertures that enable you to do more serious sky observing, and are becoming more and more affordable these days. Their main drawback however is that they are so bulky to carry on your back. Dobsonians also cannot be used for photography.

Advantages:
+ non-plussed light-gathering power per money spent
+ very large apertures allow for serious deep-sky observing

Disadvantages:
- very large and therefore difficult to carry around and store
- Cannot be used photographically

Group 4: Maksutov-Cassegrains

Finally, the last group of telescopes are called Maksutov-Cassegrains. They are specially-designed telescopes made for travel purposes, thus expect them to be compact and lightweight. They are best suited for outdoor explorations. However, this kind of telescope is a bit expensive; you can get a Newtonian or a refractor of the same aperture at a cheaper price. Maksutove-Cassegrains have long focal lengths, and thus produce low magnification, making it difficult to come up with bigger view of the object you are looking at.

Advantages:
+ very compact
+ good for watching the planets and the moon (an equal aperture refractor has the sharper image, though)

Disadvantage:
- more expensive than a refractor or particularly a Newtonian of the same aperture
- long focal length makes low magnifications and therefore large fields of view impossible.