Best Refractor Telescope For Beginners; Reviews

While they were invented in 1608, Galileo was the first to introduce his version to the public in 1609, so he’s credited with a version called the Galilean telescope. It used a convergent objective lens and a divergent eyepiece to get an upright image.

The refracting telescope bends light with lenses. That’s the basic way that the refractor works, but there’s obviously more to it than that. There are two lenses in the refractor telescope. One is at the end of the tube while the other is in the eyepiece.

The large lens at the end of the tube brings light into the tube. This is the objective lens. It’ll create a real image of the object being studied. In the tube, the real image is formed.

The magnification happens in the eyepiece lens. That lens takes the real image and magnifies it for your viewing.

Advantages Of Refractor Telescope

• Have simple design that ensures ease of use and high reliability.
• Do not require much maintenance and collimation.
• Closed optical tube assembly – the interior is protected from dust and air currents that adversely affect image quality.
• Quick thermal stabilization compared to reflectors and catadioptric designs.
• Excellent for observations of the Moon, Solar System planets, double stars (especially large aperture refractors).
• Maximum image contrast due to the absence of effect of the central screening by the secondary or diagonal mirror.
• Good color rendering properties in achromatic and excellent in apochromatic schemes.
• Can be used for terrestrial viewing.

Disadvantages Of Refractor Telescope

• All refractors suffer from an effect called chromatic aberration (“color deviation or distortion”) that produces a rainbow of colors around the image. Because of the wave nature of light, the longer wavelength light (redder colors) is bent less than the shorter wavelength light (bluer colors) as it passes through the lens. This is used in prisms to produce pretty rainbows, but can it ruin an image.
• Higher cost per inch of aperture compared to reflectors or catadioptric telescopes;
• As a rule, larger weight and dimensions compared to reflectors and catadioptric telescopes of the same aperture;
• High cost and bulkiness of construction imply limitations on the aperture size;
• Generally less suitable for observations of small and faint deep-sky objects due to practical limitations in the size of the aperture.

Conclusion

We hope that our guide helped you find the best refractor telescope for beginners.

Entry-level refracting telescopes are ideal for children and all beginning explorers of the skies. They are lightweight, compact, easy to use and maintain, and don’t require any collimation requiring special skills and knowledge. 

High-end apochromatic refractors are great for professional observers as they provide quality views with no effect of chromatic aberration. That makes them ideal instruments for both visual observations and astrophotography.

Choosing a good beginners telescope is not an easy task – if you have any hesitation on what telescope type will be the best for your needs, but you can surely purchase any one of the refractor telescopes that we have reviewed in this article.