Magnification is an often misunderstood term for the beginner astronomer. It is not magnification which provides a telescope's ability to see the sky, but how much light the telescope can gather. The reason the magnification is not as important as most think, is because the objects we are looking at are not small. If we all think back to our science classes, we'll remember that Earth is actually one of the smallest planets in the universe. The faintness of the light from the sky does not indicate the size of something. I know it would seem that even if the things we are looking at aren't small, they are still far away, so a telescope has to magnify in order to correct that.
Think of it this way. If one is trying to look at an object in a dark room, it really doesn't matter how close they are to the object, it is still going to be difficult to make out. So again, it is the amount of light which a telescope can drew which makes objects in the sky appear clearer. Also, when an object is highly magnified it becomes larger in the eyepiece, thus making it difficult to see the entire element. A low powered, or slightly magnified, eyepiece is likely all that is needed. In order to calculate the magnification of a telescope, one would divide the telescope focal length by the eyepiece focal length.
Now is an object you wish to view is smaller, than a higher magnification may be in order but only do this if you are able to see more detail. In theory, a telescope's magnification should stay within 50 or 60 times the telescope's aperture (in inches). If you are using a telescope aperture in millimeters, then you'll want magnification that is twice that. However, this depends on what you want to look at. Since planets are farther away, then they are likely to be smaller in the eyepiece and a magnification of 100x is high enough to see them in beautiful detail. The important aspect is to remember to make your own judgments and decide which magnification looks better for you.
Also remember that just because a telescope claimed to be high powered does not make it a stand above the rest. High powered is not what astronomy is about and you will likely reward yourself with blurry, frustrating images at too high a magnification.
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Tuesday September 23, 2008, 03:21 PM
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Tuesday September 23, 2008, 05:09 PM
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