Refraktteleskoopidele

Refraktteleskoopidele is the Estonian term for refracting telescopes. A refracting telescope is an optical telescope that uses a lens as its primary objective to form an image. The light that comes from a distant object passes through the objective lens, which refracts or bends the light rays to converge at a focal point. A second lens, called the eyepiece, is then used to magnify this image so that it can be viewed by the observer.

Refracting telescopes were the first type of optical telescope invented. The earliest known examples date back to the early 17th century. They were widely used for astronomical observations for many years and were instrumental in many early discoveries. However, they are not without their limitations. One significant issue is chromatic aberration, where different colors of light are refracted at slightly different angles, causing color fringing and reducing image sharpness. While methods exist to correct for this, such as using multiple lenses made of different types of glass, they add complexity and cost.

Another limitation is that as the size of the objective lens increases, the weight and thickness of the glass also increase significantly, making it difficult and expensive to manufacture very large lenses. This has led to the development and widespread adoption of reflecting telescopes, which use mirrors instead of lenses as their primary light-gathering component, for larger astronomical instruments. Despite these challenges, refracting telescopes remain popular for amateur astronomy, particularly for smaller, portable instruments, due to their relatively simple design and ease of use.