Maksutov Cassegrain Telescopes

Maksutov-Cassegrain is a sealed tube telescope very similar to the Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope. Maksutov-Cassegrain uses a thicker corrector plate than Schmidt-Cassegrain. 

Design of Maksutov-Cassegrain telescope. (Available from:http://www.vikdhillon.staff.shef.ac.uk/teaching/phy217/telescopes/phy217_tel_catadioptric.html. [accessed 29 Oct, 2019] ) 

• Light enters the tube through the corrector lens and is then reflected from the primary mirror which is located at the other end of the telescope.
• Once reflected, the light travels to the secondary mirror. The secondary mirror is an aluminated plate in the center of the corrector plate.
• From there, it passes through a small hole in the primary mirror to the eyepiece.

Maksutov-Cassegrain telescope is quite small in size, which gives it proper resolution and high contrast — great for planetary observing. Because of a small secondary mirror obstruction, the image is very sharp. With the focal ratio between f11 and f15, the field of view is rather narrow - meaning that the "deep-space" objects appear very small in the field. Although Maksutov-Cassegrain is small in size, it is quite heavy (heavy corrector lens).