Last Update: 9-2-2001

Amateur Astronomy:  Astronomers use many different types of equipment to study the Universe.  Amateur astronomers use optical telescopes ranging in diameter from 4 inches to 40 inches, with the 4 inch to 10 inch range being the most common.  But diameter does not necessarily equate to cost because of the different types of telescopes and the complexity of the optics.  The cost of typical amateur telescopes range from $400 to $10,000, so there is a broad range.  Here are some of the common telescopes used by amateur astronomers:

To see this equipment in use by amateur astronomers and to understand what star parties are all about, see CCAS Photo Gallery display's CCAS Star Parties (small monthly CCAS event at Santa Margarita Lake KOA) and CalStar 2000 (an annual mega star party at Lake San Antonio NW of Paso Robles).  In using these photo gallery pages, click on each thumbnail photo to view a larger image.

Professional Astronomy:  Here is the heavy-duty stuff.  Big-time astronomical institutions employ some highly sophisticated and extremely expensive equipment in use all over the world, as well as telescopes that orbit Earth and space probes that are deep in our Solar System.  Many of the beautifully detailed photographs you see of celestial objects come from the large observatories of the world.  Primary types of equipment used include optical telescopes, radio telescopes, X-ray telescopes and Infrared telescopes.  Here is a sample of some of the many fantastic observatories that amateur astronomers would give their Eye Teeth to visit in person, as well as some of our well-known Earth orbiting telescopes and space probes:

Click on each photo for a larger image.
Click on the links below each photo for information about that object.

For photographs of telescopes around the world, see the NOAO Telescope Image Gallery

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