| List Of Largest Optical Refracting Telescopes |
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Here is a list of the largest optical Refracting Telescope s sorted by lens diameter and year of construction. The largest refractor ever constructed was French: an instrument sporting two interchangeable objective lenses (for visual and photographic use respectively) with 49.2 in (125 cm) diameter, focal length 187 ft (57 m). It was on display at the 1900 Paris Exposition. Due to the extreme focal length it was stationary. The telescope was aimed with the aid of a Foucault Siderostat , a movable plane mirror of diameter 2 m (6.56 feet), mounted in a large cast-iron frame. The horizontal steel tube was 60 m (197 feet) long; for focusing, the telescope’s eyepiece/plate end could be shifted five feet on rails. With the lowest power - 500x - the field of view was 3 arc minutes. Due to the unfortunate location - right within the metropolis - and trouble with the siderostat the results were poor and not suited for scientific use. When the year-long exposition was over, its builders were unable to sell it. It was ultimately broken up for scrap; the lenses are still stored away at the Paris Observatory. |
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