Telescopes and Astronomy It is a dream that all mankind dreamed for centuries - getting the stars closer to see what is happening up there in the sky. The science of astronomy has always meant a lot to people and became a big part of their life from the first cultures in Babylon and Egypt on. And the techniques gazing at the stars became better and better over the time. Thanks to Galilei, Newton, Fraunhofer and many other scientists, telescopes were invented and amended. And that dream of a universe coming closer became reality for astonomers looking through their telescopes. For a while also "normal" people can look at the sky with the help of telescopes. All the different types of telescopes offered by well-known factories like Meade, Bresser, Skywatcher, William Optics, Astro Professional, Coronado, Pentax, Vixen or Kowa make the doors now open for that exploration. These companies offer telescopes for every use. Small refractor telescopes for beginners, bigger for advanced hobby astronomers and even little observatories for private astronomers. Whatever type of telescope the hobby astronomer and stargazer wants to buy, they have it, no matter if for everyday use or special kinds of exploration. The range goes from refractors to Newtonian Telescopes to Dobson Telescopes to Apo or the Fraunhofer type. The one thing you still need then is just a shop where you can buy all those telescopes. Vegaoptics offers you many of the the big names in making telescopes. From Meade to Skywatcher, from Bresser to Vixen, from William Optics to Astro Professional, from Kowa to Coronado to Pentax. These companies belong to the best in telescope making. All of them have been awarded for their work many times and always give their best to bring the universe closer to people and to get perfection in telescope making for all price classes. They are always working to offer the hobby and professional astronomer better telecopes for their specific purpose. In this shop you can look through the telescopes, the brands from Meade to Vixen, you can compare them to the others, you can search for your price class. And you can get our help to find exactely the perfect telescope for you. Our experts for sure have some more information for you what type of telescope is fitting best for you. And sometimes - if you are not an expert - you really need support, because the world of telescopes is a difficult, technical world of its own. There are many things on which the quality of a telescope depends. First of all a telescope must have a solid tripod, not shaking around, to create a good picture. For well-known telescope brands like Meade or Bresser that is a matter of course. But then there is the question what kind of telesope you want. Rookies in stargazing have made some good experiences with the beginner´s versions from companies like Omegon Bresser, Meade, Skywatcher or Vixen. Here are some examples of beginner telescopes:         Most think a refractor is the better choice for starting with the science of astronomy. A 60mm or 75 mm refractor is an ideal instrument for children and teenagers - and not too expensive. When using a reflector telescope, the first and most famous one was created by Isaac Newton, the 130 mm to 200 mm range of reflector telescope are a good telescopes for starting for kids above 12 years. But then there will be a time, the rookie astronomer is interested in a better and more special kind of telescope -- with all our support on his side. Names of telescopes like a Newtonian Telescope, a Dobson Telescope (which became more and more the amateurs´ favorite telescope over the years because it´s not very expensive but delivers good results) or the APO (Apochromat) Telescope, which unites the different colours of the rays of light in a common focus and doesn´t let colour aberration happen by that, will become favorites. And then there are the special devices a sophisticated hobby astronomer wants to buy for his telescope, astronomy cameras, eyepieces, filters, focusers, motors or remote control through the computer - it´s all here in this shop in the category of telescopes. And also the additional instruments for telescopes of course are made by the famous companies we offer, Meade, Bresser, Vixen, Skywatcher, Kowa, Pentax, Astro Professional, William Optics and Coronado.

TMB Optical Astro-Professional Bresser Coronado ORION USA Kowa Meade Omegon Pentax Skywatcher William Optics Stellarvue Vixen TeleVue Tasco Celestron Bresser Messier R-127S Bresser Refraktor Teleskop Messier R-127S 127/635EQ Ein vierlinsiger 127mm Refraktor mit einer Brennweite von 635mm. Durch die kurze Bauweise bietet dieses Gerät besonders große und he... 655.00 EUR incl. MwSt zzgl. Versandkosten Bresser Messier R-102 BRESSER Refraktor Teleskop Messier R-102 Ambitionierte Einsteiger und Fortgeschrittene finden mit diesem Gerät schon die hellsten Objekte ausserhalb des Sonnensystems. Entdecken Sie Strukture... 469.00 EUR incl. MwSt zzgl. Versandkosten Pentax Teleskop 100SDUF II Pentax Teleskop 100SDUF II Die SDUFII-Reihe ist gegenwärtig nur mit dem 100 SDUFII vertreten, der eine bedeutende Weiterentwicklung des Vorgängermodelles 100SDUF darstellt. Dieses 4-linsige GerÃ... 3,899.00 EUR incl. MwSt zzgl. Versandkosten William Optics Megrez 90 APO FD Doublet F/6.9 OTA William Optics Megrez 90 APO FD Doublet F/6.9 OTAMit 90 mm Öffnung zeigt sich dem visuell beobachtedem Amateur bereits die ganze Pracht der Deep Sky Beobachtung: die grossen Kugelsternhaufen b... 1,099.00 EUR incl. MwSt zzgl. Versandkosten Bresser Messier R-127L LXD-75 BRESSER  Messier R-127L auf LXD-75 Montierung Ein Traumgerät für preisbewusste Planetenbeobachter! Die Bresser Messier Teleskope sind jetzt auch zum Vorteilspreis im Paket mit der ... 1,028.00 EUR incl. MwSt zzgl. Versandkosten Coronado SolarMax 90 Ca-K Coronado SolarMax 90 Ca-K Teleskop In dieser speziellen Version ist es auf die Calzium-K Line bei 393,4 nm abgestimmt. Das SolarMax 90 ist das derzeit größte in Serie produzierte Ca-K ... 11,140.00 EUR incl. MwSt zzgl. Versandkosten William Optics ZenithStar 70 OTA William Optics ZenithStar 70 OTA The 70mm ED Doublet operates at F6.2 and is a true multi-purpose tube assembly. Excellent mechanics and fit and finish, Crayford 2-speed fine focuser, super-high ... 349.00 EUR incl. MwSt zzgl. Versandkosten Coronado SolarMax 70 Ca-K Coronado SolarMax 70 Ca-K Teleskop Diese Version ist speziell auf die Calzium-K Linie bei 393,4 nm abgestimmt.Das SolarMax 70 ist besonders für den Schul- und Lehrbetrieb geeignet. Auß... 3,599.00 EUR incl. MwSt zzgl. Versandkosten Bresser Messier N-150 LXD-75 Bresser  Messier N-150 auf LXD-75 Montierung Die Bresser Messier Teleskope sind jetzt auch zum Vorteilspreis im Paket mit der computergesteuerten Meade LXD-75 Montierung lieferbar. Mit ü... 878.00 EUR incl. MwSt zzgl. Versandkosten

Want to know more about telescopes?

Optics Design

Activities like astronomy, nature observations or the observation at sport events must often happen from the distance. For many different reasons frequently we cannot step near enough to the happening to be able to figure out exactely all the details. Our eyes have a minimum enlargement capacity, have a limited dissolution and a limitation of light incidence. We have to use optical instruments such as telescopes, binoculars and eyeglasses to enlarge the abilities of our eyes.
A telescope is an optical instrument, which can increase far away items. It shows a small cut-out and enlarges the far away objects it containes. With the help of a telescope parallel rays of light are bundled and led in one point together which is called the focal point or focus.
These rays of light will be increased through a lens or a group of lenses, called the ocular or eyepiece.
The ocular of a telescope works exactly contrary to the optics and sends parallel rays of light back to the eye. The aperture of the observed area depends on the visual field of the ocular used for the telescope.

Refractor Telescopes

Basically there are two different ways to bundle light in telescopes. The simplest kind of doing this, is to send the rays of light through one or more arcuated or polished lenses.
Refractores have some advantages compared to other telescope designs. Dust and dirt cannot infiltrate and disturb the telecope thanks to the closed optics.
The optics of the refractor telescope is self-contained and needs no regular collimation (adjustment of the lenses). The system does not have central shading (obstruction) weakening the beam of light, which could limit the diffraction pattern. The result is a sharp and detailed illustration, which makes refractor telescopes ideal for planet observations. A problem of refractor telescopes are the different focuses of the varied wavelengths of the light. Because of these difficulties there can be color fringes around light objects when looking through the telescope.
Additional lenses and a special kind of glass for the telescopes helps to avoid this. But since for this purpose you have to compute, manufacture and adjust at least four lenses in an accurate way, a refractor telescope is more expensive than other telescopes.

Reflectors - Newtonian Telescopes

The second method used for collecting light with a telescope is a curved mirror. This system is called a reflector. The most popular design is the Newtonian Reflector named after its inventor Sir Isaac Newton.

A mirror of a Newtonian Telescope is manufactured by coating a concave glass with a reflecting layer. The light hitting on that glass is reflected on the surface and united in the focus.
Since the light does not go through lenses, a reflector telescope produces no color defects. There can be a spherical surface on the long-focus mirrors. That concept works with mirrors with aperture ratio f/9 or longer. When using larger mirrors (starting from 150mm) or short focal lengths under f/8 this kind of telescope mirror does not accurately focus in one point. The spherical aberration happens if rays of light of edge of the telescope mirror hit another focus than the more central rays.

To avoid the problem, surfaces of the telescope mirror will be altered and get an parabolic form by that procedure.

When the rays of light leave the main mirror towards the focus, they must be turned back for observation. A second, planner mirror is attached in a 45° bent to the light path to lead the rays to the focus of the Newtonian Telescope. The second mirror is oval, but shows a round picture under the 45°-incline.
Obstructions by this mirror have a small effect on the picture of the system. They alter the illustration of the airy disk by own diffraction features and cause a small loss of light in the focus of the Newtonian Telescope. Normally you cannot determine the effect in the focused picture!

Because the ocular is being put on the side of the tube, the telescope can be constructed closer to the ground, what means a low balance point and a higher stability. Only two optical surfaces must be worked on and polished, and these can be tested separately. This is making the design much more inexpensive in production than other telescope types. On the other side the long tubes of the Newtonian Telescopes are due to the longer focal length much more susceptible to wind than other designs. Because of that, collimation is an important component of regular maintenance of the Newtonian Telescope.


Katadioptric Telescopes

The third type are the katadioptric telescope systems, a combination from both designs. A katadioptric telescope uses the advantages of mirror and lens optics to produce and correct the picture. Examples of such designs are Schmidt Cassegrain telescopes and Maksutov Cassegrain telescopes.

Katadioptric Telescopes are modified Newtonian Telescopes, which have a correction optics in the path of rays.

Katadioptric Newtonian Telescopes have a short physical overall length. The focal length of the telescope is determined by the extension factor of the corrector. If the main mirror has a focal length of 500mm and the corrector is double extended, the Katadioptric Newtonian Telescope has a total focal length of 1000mm.
This design has a shorter configuration and is much more compact, which means the telescope is also better for transport and has a smaller contact surface for the wind than a normal Newtonian Telescope. The corrector of the Katadioptric Newtonian Telescopes is collimated ex factory, main and secondary mirrors can be collimated normally.

Schmidt Cassegrain telescope systems use a spherical corrector, which is attuned to the main mirror, in order to correct the spherical aberration. The parallel arriving rays of light pass the corrector of the telescope, and are led through the main mirror on a convex secondary mirror. This secondary mirror steers the light through a hole in the main mirror of the telescope to the outside. Here is the ocular, the zenith mirror or the photo equipment of the telescope.
The focusing takes place either via the moving the main mirror or the ocular. The main advantage of that telescope system is the short building method, which affects the observation more than positive when there are long attainable focal lengths through the folded path of rays. The main disadvantage of these telescope is the large but also necessary secondary mirror. Connected with that is the impairment of the effective opening and the contrast.

Maksutov Cassegrain telescopes are nearly identically developed to the Schmidt Cassegrain telescopes. They also have a corrector, a thick meniscus. The invading light goes through the concave part of the corrector to the mirror and is then thrown back. Usually the convex secondary mirror of the telescope is a metallized part of the meniscus. As in the case for the Schmidt Cassegrain telescope the light is being led to the outside then through a drilling in the main mirror. The Maksutov Cassegrain telescope is easier to work on, but however the telescope system is heavier because of the thick miniscus board.