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There are several basic types of optical telescopes. Most telescopes
are variations on one of those types.
Refracting Telescope - light travels through a lens
and is bent and magnified by the shape of the lens before it reaches
your eye. This has the effect of magnifying the resulting image.
These types of telescopes are often called Galilean, after astronomer
Galileo Galilei.
Reflecting Telescope - light is reflected off a
round, curved mirror onto a secondary, flat mirror, which in turn
reflects the image to the eyepiece. The first mirror magnifies
and focuses the image; the larger and more highly polished the
concave mirror is, the further the telescope can 'see'. These
telescopes are called Newtonian, after Sir Isaac Newton.
Cassegrain Telescope - these modern telescopes
use a combination of lenses and mirrors to achieve the best of
both worlds.
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