Catadioptric telescopes are compound telescopes, which use a combination of lenses and mirrors, offer compact tubes and are relatively light in weight. Two popular designs you'll often see are called Schmidt-Cassegrains and Maksutov-Cassegrains.
The Schmidt-Cassegrain is a very popular telescope design. It has a longer focal length which makes it an instrument primarily used for higher magnifications. Because of the compact design it offers a large aperture in a relative small sized telescope. This system is used a lot for high resolution lunar- and planetary imaging.
The Maksutov-Cassegrain or Maksutov in short is also a popular telescope design for observing. It has a long focal length which makes it an excellent instrument for higher magnifications and is therefore used a lot for lunar- and planetary observing. Because of the compact design it offers a large aperture in a relative small sized and light weight telescope.
Schmidt-Newton telescopes are great astrophotography systems.
Dall-Kirkham optical designs can be found in high end systems and are mainly used for astrophotography.
Most of the catadioptric telescopes have some sort of aberrations by design. This is not a bad thing, it's just how physics works. For this reason some of these catadioptric telescopes offer optimized versions where a n extra lens system corrects for the aberrations resulting in a coma-free telescope.
In this category all types of catadioptric telescopes are included. Here you can find telescopes for beginners and the best optical systems for professionals.
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