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Advantages And Disadvantages Of Using Refracting Telescopes

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Refraction of light through different media
Light travels in waves through space in straight lines. In a vacuum the speed of light is 3x10⁸m/s, when light travels through different substances called mediums, it will change speed depending on the optical density. If light travels through a medium at a right angle, it’s velocity will change but not the direction. However if light enters the medium at an angle, it’s direction and speed will change.
The index of refraction is the ratio of the speed of light in a vacuum to the speed of light in the medium: n = c / v n = the medium c = the speed of light in a vacuum v = speed of light in a medium
(The index of refraction does not use any units)

For example, the refractive index of air is 1 and …show more content…

Refracting telescopes are more reliable because they are permanently fixed which in turn makes the images produced steadier and clearer

Disadvantages of Refracting telescopes
There are many disadvantages when using refracting telescopes. One of which is chromatic aberration. Chromatic Aberration happens when light travel through the glass lens and the different colours that make up white light refract at different angles. This causes the observer to see a rainbow around the image they are viewing.
One way to counteract the effects of chromatic aberration is to use multiple compensating lenses. Another way to avoid chromatic aberration is to use a long object focal length this is the distance between the focus and the objective

Another disadvantage is the difficulty of making the lenses. The objective lens need to have no imperfections and the shape of the lens is thicker in the center and thunder on the edges which are the only support_ hoch manes the lens v ey fragile on the edges and are more susceptible to damage

the largest objective lens for a refracting telescope is only 1 meter in

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