There are two reasons why a short focal length is recommended for galaxies and DSOs.įirst, due to the lower obstruction, these telescopes tend to show brighter images with slightly better colors. The telescope designs that tend to have shorter focal lengths are refractors, Newtonians, and some Dobsonians so our recommendations below will focus mostly on those. If you are a complete beginner, the focal length of a telescope is the distance the light travels inside the telescope’s tube in order to reach the exit point or focuser. We have gone into depth about this in our article about focal length, but to summarize, long focal lengths are better for planetary viewing, and short focal lengths are better for deep sky objects. Focal length to view galaxiesĪfter aperture, the characteristic that matters the most in a telescope to optimize for certain types of objects is focal length. However, in that formula, there’s a number that does matter and that can significantly improve your viewing experience when it comes to seeing galaxies, and that’s the telescope’s focal length, so let’s talk about that. So, don’t worry too much about magnification at this point because you can increase your options later through reasonably priced accessories like eyepieces and Barlow lenses.
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The focal length of a telescope can be increased or decreased using certain accessories.The good news is that there are multiple ways to increase and decrease the magnification you get out of a telescope because of two reasons: The magnification is the result of diving the telescope’s focal length by the eyepiece’s focal length. Going beyond that to a magnification of 200x-300x is usually not just unnecessary, but it can be detrimental in most situations. That being said, for most home telescopes, the optimal magnification to view most galaxies and deep sky objects is going to be between 80x and 150x depending on the specific object that you are looking at and the specifications of the telescope.
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It’s not possible to group them all in such a way that a single magnification is the definitive “best” answer to observe them all and get perfect results every time.
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When it comes to galaxies, there is a wide variety of sizes, brightness, and types. If you need more information about aperture we have a whole article explaining what it is, but in short, it is simply how big the front lens of the telescope is. For example, if you plan to buy a telescope for camping you will have to consider things like weight and size, but within that pool of options, the ones with the larger aperture should be your top choices. The aperture should be your first consideration when it comes to a telescope and you want to get the biggest one that your budget and viewing conditions allow for. Galaxies are no different than other objects in this regard. More light equals more information which results in an image with more colors, details, and sharpness. The aperture is the most important specification for your telescope because it determines the amount of light the lens is able to capture. The best aperture to view galaxies is the biggest you can get.
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