NextPrevious

Astronomy Today

Telescope Basics

What is a Schmidt telescope?

Invented by the German optician Bernhard Schmidt (1879–1935), this kind of telescope has a primary mirror as its main light-gathering component. This mirror is specially shaped so it can look at a very wide area of the sky at once. Like a “fish-eye” lens on a camera, however, the resulting image is distorted. Thus, a special, thin lens is placed in front of the mirror, which corrects the distortion. This Schmidt design, which uses both refraction and reflection of light, is ideal for obtaining wide-angle images of the sky. It is often used in astronomical cameras.



The largest Schmidt telescope, having a primary mirror 48 inches in diameter, is located at Palomar Observatory in San Diego County, California.

Close

This is a web preview of the "The Handy Astronomy Answer Book" app. Many features only work on your mobile device. If you like what you see, we hope you will consider buying. Get the App