Meade NG 130mm User Manual - Page 2

WARNING! Never use a Meade® StarNavigator NG™ Telescope to look at the Sun! Looking at or near the Sun will cause instant and irreversible damage to your eye. Eye damage is often painless, so there is no warning to the observer that damage has occurred until it is too late. Do not point the telescope at or near the Sun. Do not look through the telescope or viewfinder as it is moving. Children should always have adult supervision while observing. Refracting Telescopes use a large objective lens as their primary light-collecting element. Meade refractors, in all models and apertures, include achromatic (2-element) objective lenses in order to reduce or virtually eliminate the false color (chromatic aberration) that results in the telescopic image when light passes through a lens. Reflecting Telescopes use a concave primary mirror to collect light and form an image. In the Newtonian type of reflector, light is reflected by a small, flat secondary mirror to the side of the main tube for observation of the image. Eyepiece F Refracting Telescope 2-Element Objective Lens In the refracting telescope, light is collected by a 2-element objective lens and brought to a focus at F. Secondary Mirror Concave Mirror F Reflecting Telescope Eyepiece In contrast, the reflecting telescope uses a concave mirror for this purpose.