Cyprus Astronomy Organisation

The primary purposes of a telescope are to gather light and magnify an image. The aperture (opening) of a telescope is larger than that of the human eye and therefore, can gather much more light. This enables us to see dim objects that are too faint to see with the naked eye. The larger the aperture of the telescope, the more light it can gather. Telescopes also use a series of lenses and/or mirrors to magnify the image, enabling us to see more detail.