Maksutov Cassegrain Telescope

"What The Heck Is A Maksutov Cassegrain Telescope And Why Should I Want One?"

The Maksutov cassegrain telescope (A.K.A., “Mak”, by those in the know) is a telescope design invented by… you guessed it… a guy named Dmitri Dmitriyevich Maksutov.  And you were wondering why this design is simply called the "Mak".?.  But just what is this design?

Just like a number of other telescopes, the Mak uses both mirrors and a lens to move the incoming light to your eye.  But there are a few differences.

When you look closely at the lens of a Maksutov cassegrain telescope, you will quickly notice that the front lens is curved severely inward.  What you will not notice (unless you decide to take the telescope apart) is that this lens is pretty thick and there is an aluminized spot on the backside.  You will also see the main mirror when you look deeper into the telescope tube.  

Maksutov’s are great telescopes!  Having a very short tube length and being reasonably lightweight makes these scopes perfect for traveling and easy to set up.  Ok… well they aren’t so lightweight and easy to set up if you buy a monster 10-12” version, but you get the idea.  

These scopes really show their stuff on planets and the moon but they also work really well on star clusters, nebulas and galaxies if you have dark skies.  They are also one of the all-time favorite telescopes for astrophotography and for use as spotting scopes.