Suppose for a minute that light travels through the atmosphere through the telescope and then at last into your eyes. The magnification range of the telescope is determined by each segment of the journey. the thing that disturbs you is what factors affect the magnification.
This buying guide will help you understand all the factors in detail.
Human eyes have an automatic focus and iris, a curved surface, an aspheric lens, a chemical intensifier for an image, a windshield, and a lens cover. And a marvelous stereo vision!
The human brain does wonder and processes the error if any. When using a telescope, the people who have near or farsightedness can remove their glasses because the telescope is manufactured in a way to cover these eye defects. The magnification is greatly affected by manual eye defects like debris bits in the eyes.
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Eyesight vs. Telescope Magnification
The six major factors that affect the magnification of the telescope are angular magnification, atmospheric conditions, the telescope's aperture, optical design, and the type and size of the concerned object. Here are some tips for you.
If you want the half-disc of the moon to appear 25 degrees wide then choose a telescope of 50-power. if you want to get low magnification, then use eye lenses of focal length. High magnification can be the result of short focal length eyepieces such as a Barlow or stacked lens. But, there is a catch in that but you have to be aware. The high magnification causes too small and dim fields.
It is the smallest angle between different close separate objects that can be clearly seen. It is limited by the second nature of the light i.e. wave nature.
The diameter of the objective or primary lens or mirror of the telescope that is usually measured in mm is called the aperture. For getting a brighter image the aperture is taken of large size.
The image that is produced by the eyepiece. It is the place of your eye to view. It is calculated by dividing the objective diameter with magnitude. It can also be said as an objective’s f/number.
Consider a night of high transparency. It is the perfect opportunity for viewing nebulae, faint stars, and other celestial beings. But, you should know that there is air turbulence too. Which makes an awful decision to stargaze.
The best weather is the hazy summer to view the heavens. The pollution in the environment also affects to see but you can avoid it by viewing from a remote site by using your ideal telescope.
The question that usually pops into your mind is that how sharp can be the magnification of your telescope? The circular telescope aperture diffracts waves of light and forms bright and dark rings. When you focus the image of the star becomes a small dot that has faint diffraction rings surrounding it.
Atmospheric air turbulence and telescope imperfections make it challenging to see the patterns. A perfect dot contains 84% of the aperture’s total light.
For most of the amateur, astronomy is an aesthetic desire but for some, it is their passion. So, the question that worries them is how many features should they keep in mind before choosing the telescope magnification?
5Ox per inch of aperture is The highest telescopic magnification. The atmosphere affects less to the small telescopes and can form an image up to 100x per inch of aperture.
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Myths about the Magnification of the telescope
There are many myths about the magnification of telescope that you get to listen to many people. So, we have decided you reveal to you the truth.
About the lowest useful magnification
With a refractor, the exit pupil does not have any limit. You can use whatever you require to get the field. If the black spot in the exit pupil becomes obtrusive then it means the low power limit of the refractor has been reached.
A 7 mm exit pupil as considered to give the best result but it is not true. It can give you the brightest view of the sky. But if we increase the magnification then despite pf the low exit pupil. There will be more details shown. The fainted stars will be shown and it can also show the contrast.
About waste of light and Resolution due to largest exit pupil than 7mm
A larger pupil can waste aperture with a refractor. But if the magnification is lower then it should not concern you. The brightness and resolution of the image are not going to get affected. This is because of the black spot in the pupil which becomes larger by the secondary obstruction. Reflectors are the cause of field shadowing and light loss. But the myth is revealed that there is no loss of resolution due to low power.
Contrast Images are caused by Long Focal Ratio
Refractors can be one of the factors for higher contrast of the image because of their nature and mirror coating that allows the scattering of the light.
But the factor that long focal ration causes higher contrast image can’t be true because the refractors that have the same size of secondary obstruction will cause the same contrast and it does not affect the magnification of the telescope.
The highest magnification of a telescope is 50x per inch of aperture
This myth is so stupid because as we have discussed above the small telescope doesn’t have environmental exposure that can cause harm. So, they produce images up to 100x and 200x per inch of aperture.? To get the highest magnification, try to use 3 or 4 inches refractor like it produces an image of 200x per inch of aperture. But, this is rare because it is unlikely that an assisting device help telescope magnification.
The image quality is affected badly by Barlow lens use
Barlow glasses and lens have indeed been basically made to use with modern eyepieces. The actual truth is it assists the eyepiece by degrading astigmatism at the edge of the field. Not only this Barlow lens the f/number of the objective and allows you to use eyepieces of longer focal length with their long eye relief to view and stargaze with high magnification.
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How to Calculate Magnification?
The magnification can be calculated by simply dividing the focal length of the scope by the focal length of the eyepiece. For your convenience read the example. if a 1000mm focal length scope is used with a 25 mm eyepiece then just divide 1000mm by 25 mm the magnification will be 40x.
The telescope which has high magnification like 600x per inch of aperture should be avoided. The most beneficial and effective telescope is the one that has magnification 50x more than its aperture in inches. And, when talked in mm then twice its aperture. To get a good 600x you need a 12 inches wide scope. But, even in this situation, you have to wait for the perfect night.