Astronomy:List of telescope parts and construction

From HandWiki
Short description: none

Hardware

Accessories

Control

Mechanical construction

  • Mirror support cell
  • Serrurier truss
  • Silvering

Mounts

Optics

Mirrors and lenses are the critical light-bending components of a telescope.

  • Objective: The first lens or curved mirror that collects and focuses the incoming light.
  • Corrector plate: A full aperture negative lens placed before a primary mirror designed to correct the optical aberrations of the mirror.
  • Focusing mask: A full aperture mask temporarily placed before the primary mirror to aid in focusing the telescope.
  • Sub-aperture corrector: One or a series of corrective lens (sometimes combined with a corrective curved mirror) placed after (near the focus) a primary mirror designed to correct the optical aberrations of the mirror. These can be just a small version of the corrector plate, but since they are usually used in a Cassegrain configuration in front of the secondary mirror they require additional modification since the light passes through them twice.
  • Secondary mirror
  • Mirror ยง Instruments
  • Curved mirror
  • Honeycomb mirror
  • Liquid mirror
  • Parabolic reflector

Subsequent (sometimes optional) components realign, segment, or in some way modify the light of an incoming image:

  • Field lens: A correcting lens placed just before the image plane of a telescope.[citation needed]
  • Telecompressor or focal reducer: Optical element to decrease the telescope's focal length and magnification (usually by a fixed percentage) and widen the field of view, providing opposite effects of a Barlow lens.
  • Star Diagonal: Used to change the angle of the light coming out of a telescope, for easier viewing.
  • Herschel Wedge: Similar to a star diagonal with a wedge-shaped unsilvered prism reflector that reduces incoming light by up to 95% for solar viewing.
  • Coma corrector a correcting lens used to reduce coma distortion in fast reflecting telescopes.
  • Field flattener a correcting lens used to reduce field curvature in refracting telescopes for astrophotography.
  • Barlow lens: Optical element to increase the telescope's focal length and magnification, narrow the field of view and reduce coma distortion, providing opposite effects of a telecompressor.
  • Astronomical filter: Used to select specific colors (or light frequencies) for astrophotography.
  • Filter wheel: One manner to easily insert filters into the optical train. Mostly used for photography.
  • Focuser: Allows the user to adjust the focus by moving the eyepiece along the optical axis.
  • Eyepiece: Performs the final focus correction before the light reaches the eye.
  • Charge-coupled device (CCD): A light-sensitive integrated circuit digital sensor (commonly used in digital cameras) that turns light into an electrical charge used to collection image data.

Generally applicable to all items:

  • Metallizing: A way of coating mirrors for high-efficiency light reflection.
  • Optical coating: Thin layers applied to mirrors, filters, and lenses to avoid reflections, as well as absorb certain colors.

Software and control interfaces

Support equipment and buildings

See also