Reflecting telescopes have their own unique potential problems as well. One problem can be the size of reflecting telescopes. As designers use larger and larger mirrors, the telescopes have to grow in size to fit the mirrors inside. Whilst the results are generally superior with the larger reflecting telescopes, they are not what you would call easily portable and it can prove difficult finding a a convenient place to store them when you are not using them. Another problem is that reflecting telescopes may require to have the mirrors from time to time to keep them working perfectly and to maximize the light that is captured.
We've covered portable grab-and-go refractors that are ideal for a quick observing session when time is tight. But refractors are expensive relative to their aperture. And some have bothersome chromatic aberration which ruins the view of bright objects like the moon and planets. So if you're considering a grab-and-go telescope, a reflector might be the choice if you prefer brighter images with truer colour at a reasonable price. Read more
Niccolò Zucchi (1586-1670) is credited with inventing the reflecting telescope, or reflector, in 1616. He was an Italian Jesuit astronomer and physicist. With his telescope in 1630, he discovered two bands on Jupiter that had not been observed before. There is also a crater on the moon named after him.
Colli-Mate Deluxe combined Cheshire and sight tube collimating eyepiece Much has been written on the respective merits of laser collimators over sight tube and centering eyepiece tools for collimating telescopes - it is certainly true that the primary function of telescopes is for looking through and not shining lasers through and it certainly makes a lot of practical sense to use collimating aids that rely on the principle of eye-views. Aligning the mirrors seems easy enough in theory, but in practice it can be difficult without the proper tools. A common way of establishing "rough" collimation is to simply remove the eyepiece and look down the focuser tube to center the mirror reflections. The accuracy of this method is not very reliable.
Laser Collimator Simply put, a telescope collimator is the act of aligning (collimating) the optical components of a telescope so that light will come to a focal point on the object (e.g., Jupiter) that you wish to see. Laser collimating allows this process to be completed with ease and accuracy.
Newtonian Reflectors The telescope with the most light-collecting power for your money is the venerable Newtonian reflector, invented by Sir Isaac Newton himself in 1689. If you love to see the wisps of faint nebulae and the spiral structure of distant galaxies, then this may be the scope for you.