TECH Dome Observatory

 

The astronomy observatory at Tech-Dome Penang was officially opened by the Tourism Minister, Dato’ Nazri Aziz on 18 December 2016. It has the most powerful telescope in Penang, the Officina Stellare Pro RC 400. This telescope is a reflecting telescope with a 16" diameter primary mirror. Another telescope available there is the Lunt 152mm Solar Telescope, the largest commercially available telescope purely to observe the Sun. We managed to use the solar telescope when we there where we observed sunspots and solar flares.

There are 3 types of telescopes, a refractor, a reflector, and a catadioptric telescope. 

What is a refractor telescope

It is a type of optical telescope, meaning it gathers and focuses light in order to create a magnified image. They were the first type of optical telescope. They are made out of an objective lens, which is the lens that gathers light and blinds it into focus, to create a focus, which is when incoming light is bent into a bright point. The eyepiece then brings the bright image from the focus point and magnifies it.

What is a reflector telescope

A reflector telescope is also a type of optical telescope. It uses mirrors, flat and curved, to reflect light and form an image. Reflecting telescopes can be much bigger than refractor telescopes and are cheaper to make. Also, they do not suffer from chromatic aberration, which is the failure to focus an image.

Catadioptric (smidtch diorient)

A catadioptric telescope is also a type of optical telescope. Refraction and reflection is combined in these telescopes. They use specific mirrors and lenses to form an image, which ensures an overall greater degree of error correction and a wider, aberration-free, field of view. 

Light path in a refracting telescope

Light path in a reflecting telescope

Light path in a catadioptric telescope