Norman Lockyer observatory trip

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Norman Lockyer observatory trip

For our visit we went to the Norman Lockyer observatory to find out more about the nights skies. The two ways they studied the skies were telescopes and spectroscopes. The Norman locker observatory or NLO is based in Sidmouth. Here is a picture of the observatory

Norman Lockyer, (1836-1920) founded the NLO in 1912

There are two types of telescopes, Reflecting and Refracting. The NLO has 4 refracting telescopes, and 2 reflecting telescopes.

Refracting telescopes

This explains how a refracting telescope works.

Good and bad factors about refractors

Achromatic refractors use lenses that are not extensively corrected to prevent chromatic aberration, which is a rainbow halo that sometimes appears around images seen through a refractor. Instead, they usually have "coated" lenses to reduce this problem. Apochromatic refractors use either multiple-lens designs or lenses made of other types of glass (such as fluorite) to prevent chromatic aberration. Apochromatic refractors are much more expensive than achromatic refractors.

Refractors have good resolution, high enough to see details in planets and binary stars. However, it is difficult to make large objective lenses (greater than 4 inches or 10 centimetres) for