<p>The closest that I know of would either be <a href="https://www.fireflybooks.com/catalogue/adult-books/nature-and-science/astronomy/terence-dickinson/product/8977-nightwatch-a-practical-guide-to-viewing-the-universe" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Nightwatch</a> (Terence Dickinson) and/or <a href="https://www.fireflybooks.com/catalogue/adult-books/nature-and-science/astronomy/terence-dickinson/product/14077-the-backyard-astronomer-s-guide" rel="nofollow noreferrer">The Backyard Astronomer's Guide</a> (also Terence Dickinson).</p>
<p>I don't think either of those cover your last requirement of &quot;telescopes of all regions of the EM spectrum like Ultraviolet Telescopes, Infrared Telescopes, etc.&quot;, though.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-07-14T11:32:11.210Z
Thanks for responding! Do both of these contain the physics/optics and engineering behind such telescopes? And the history behind their developments?
WantARevolution
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-07-14T14:15:44.990Z
@Aadhavan The Backyard Astronomer's Guide does, and I think Nightwatch does briefly as well, though I don't have either to hand in order to double-check for you. Nightwatch is more about observing and TBAG goes into more detail about equipment.
Aaron F
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-07-14T09:17:48.167Z
2021-07-14T09:17:48.167Z
Aaron F
<p><strong>tl;dr</strong> As said by @uhoh in the comments, is there <em>A Big Book of Telescopes?</em> i.e: Is there some kind of media that gives a complete treatment to telescopes?</p>
<p>I am relatively new to Astronomy.SE. I wanted to enquire if there was a good guide on how to use telescopes based on certain specifications as given below.</p>
<p><strong>Note:</strong> By guide, I mean anything from a book to online lectures to videos, etc. (Basically, any kind of media)</p>
<p><strong>Specifications:-</strong></p>
<ol>
<li><p>The guide should systematically cover all the necessities one must know to effectively utilize telescopes in levels from Beginner to Advanced. Like for beginners, it could be stuff like the parts of a Newtonian telescope, basic optics, etc.</p>
</li>
<li><p>The guide should cover the physics/optics and engineering behind such telescopes.</p>
</li>
<li><p>The guide should consist/conclude with the limitations of the most advanced telescopes and how astronomers/engineers are devising probable workarounds to improve upon them.</p>
</li>
<li><p>It would be wonderful if it contained history that led to the development of the specific kind of telescopes that we use at an Amateur stage to ones used by Professionals.</p>
</li>
<li><p>The guide should include telescopes of all regions of the EM spectrum like Ultraviolet Telescopes, Infrared Telescopes, etc. (Optional Point; Would be wonderful if it contains this too)</p>
</li>
</ol>
<p>As said by @planetmaker the guide I want is something that combines a complete operations manual, complete engineering documentation, and a historical treatise for the major/most common telescopes that one utilizes as they grow from Beginner to Amateur to Advanced in a systematic way so that it functions as an aid to someone self-exploring the subject.</p>
<p>I apologize if this kind of question is inappropriate/off-topic for Astronomy.SE. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find any guides by myself with such specifications. I suppose one should wonder whether such kinds of guides exist(I hope they do!) or whether mine is a too niche kind of question.</p>
<p>Thank You!!!</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-07-13T12:55:58.383Z
While I believe that such question is perfectly on-topic, I think your question is quite broad to the extend of being too broad as you basically ask about a complete operations manual, a complete engineering documentation and a historical treatise for all telescopes there are. Given this breadth of the query, I find it hard to believe that you did not find any ressources yourself so far or in how far the ones you found (which) are insufficient to answer your question at least partially. I'd appreciate if you'd amend your question by this.
planetmaker
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-07-13T13:42:21.450Z
Thanks for responding! Actually, I did find a lot of resources, but none whatsoever had it in a viable structure which encompassed all of the specifications. Like as you say I did find independent historical treatises, engineering documentation, but none of them followed a systematic order with sufficient rigor. None of them also clearly showed correlations between historical treatises and the engineering documentation that would be really helpful to self-studying students like me.
WantARevolution
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-07-13T13:45:31.383Z
@planetmaker I suppose I could try to alternatively correlate the historical treatises and the operating manuals myself as a beginner, but I worry if that will be more of a setback. Thus, I wished to know if there is such a guide as that exists as the one I have requested in my question which would help fellow beginning enthusiasts like myself. What do you suppose I should do? Should I just combine them myself?

Thank You!
WantARevolution
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-07-13T13:54:03.093Z
@Aadhavan Your question is not really broad, you've simply asked "Is there a *Big Book of Telescopes*?" which is either going to turn up a few, or none.
uhoh
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-07-13T13:56:45.533Z
Your title asks about "guide on how to use telescopes" which sounds like `amateur-observing` but the last bit says "telescopes of all regions of the EM spectrum like Ultraviolet Telescopes, Infrared Telescopes, etc." which is generally quite from the amateur world. Would you like to narrow your question to [amateur observing](https://astronomy.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/amateur-observing)? If so, maybe remove the UV/IR bit. If not, then go ahead and remove the tag I've added.
uhoh
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-07-13T14:03:16.397Z
@uhoh I suppose adding your edit would at least aid in getting an answer that would satisfy most of my specifications but I do want something that systematically covers everything till recent knowledge right from scratch including the UV/IR Telescopes. Maybe I could mention it as an optional point, would that be fine?
WantARevolution
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-07-13T14:54:29.527Z
@Aadhavan sure sounds good, but I have a hunch that there will not be any *single* source for all of this, unless it's a very superficial treatment. I think the reason that you couldn't find any is simply that there aren't any, but that's just my view. I think you can find sources that specifically cover telescope optics, and other sources on telescope development history, and others on focal plane techniques (sensors etc.) etc. It seems almost asking too much to require it all to be in a single source.
uhoh
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-07-13T15:00:15.453Z
Well, I know it's a long shot. Although I do really hope I do find some. Anyways, Thank you!
WantARevolution
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-07-14T09:49:25.997Z
@uhoh Thanks for the summary of the question, I changed my opinion and retracted my close-vote.
B--rian
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-07-14T10:28:15.953Z
so is it really amateur observing you aim at, or are you (also) interested in how the big professional telescopes like VLTI, Keck, Spitzer etc were devised? IMHO amateur-observing doesn't fit to how the body of the question reads at all.
planetmaker
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-07-14T11:28:15.930Z
@planetmaker The kind of guide I am searching for is something that that should consist of a systematic flow of structure beginning from scratch and proceeding to a highly advanced level of knowledge. I do want it to eventually reach about how VLTI and other advanced telescopes were devised, but it's clear by uhoh's words too that something like that is going to be very difficult to find. Although it's a long shot, I am hoping for something conclusive. That's also the reason I didn't specify it should be a book rather it can be some kind of website which has all of these details in such a way.
WantARevolution
<observational-astronomy><telescope><amateur-observing><resource-request>
Is there a complete guide on how to use telescopes?
WantARevolution
# Is there a complete guide on how to use telescopes?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2021-07-13)

**tl;dr** As said by @uhoh in the comments, is there *A Big Book of Telescopes?* i.e: Is there some kind of media that gives a complete treatment to telescopes?

I am relatively new to Astronomy.SE. I wanted to enquire if there was a good guide on how to use telescopes based on certain specifications as given below.

**Note:** By guide, I mean anything from a book to online lectures to videos, etc. (Basically, any kind of media)

**Specifications:-**

1. The guide should systematically cover all the necessities one must know to effectively utilize telescopes in levels from Beginner to Advanced. Like for beginners, it could be stuff like the parts of a Newtonian telescope, basic optics, etc.
2. The guide should cover the physics/optics and engineering behind such telescopes.
3. The guide should consist/conclude with the limitations of the most advanced telescopes and how astronomers/engineers are devising probable workarounds to improve upon them.
4. It would be wonderful if it contained history that led to the development of the specific kind of telescopes that we use at an Amateur stage to ones used by Professionals.
5. The guide should include telescopes of all regions of the EM spectrum like Ultraviolet Telescopes, Infrared Telescopes, etc. (Optional Point; Would be wonderful if it contains this too)

As said by @planetmaker the guide I want is something that combines a complete operations manual, complete engineering documentation, and a historical treatise for the major/most common telescopes that one utilizes as they grow from Beginner to Amateur to Advanced in a systematic way so that it functions as an aid to someone self-exploring the subject.

I apologize if this kind of question is inappropriate/off-topic for Astronomy.SE. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find any guides by myself with such specifications. I suppose one should wonder whether such kinds of guides exist(I hope they do!) or whether mine is a too niche kind of question.

Thank You!!!

**Tags:** observational-astronomy, telescope, amateur-observing, resource-request
> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: While I believe that such question is perfectly on-topic, I think your question is quite broad to the extend of being too broad as you basically ask about a complete operations manual, a complete engineering documentation and a historical treatise for all telescopes there are. Given this breadth of the query, I find it hard to believe that you did not find any ressources yourself so far or in how far the ones you found (which) are insufficient to answer your question at least partially. I'd appreciate if you'd amend your question by this.  
> **username_0**: Thanks for responding! Actually, I did find a lot of resources, but none whatsoever had it in a viable structure which encompassed all of the specifications. Like as you say I did find independent historical treatises, engineering documentation, but none of them followed a systematic order with sufficient rigor. None of them also clearly showed correlations between historical treatises and the engineering documentation that would be really helpful to self-studying students like me.  
> **username_0**: @planetmaker I suppose I could try to alternatively correlate the historical treatises and the operating manuals myself as a beginner, but I worry if that will be more of a setback. Thus, I wished to know if there is such a guide as that exists as the one I have requested in my question which would help fellow beginning enthusiasts like myself. What do you suppose I should do? Should I just combine them myself?  Thank You!  
> **username_2**: @Aadhavan Your question is not really broad, you've simply asked "Is there a *Big Book of Telescopes*?" which is either going to turn up a few, or none.  
> **username_2**: Your title asks about "guide on how to use telescopes" which sounds like `amateur-observing` but the last bit says "telescopes of all regions of the EM spectrum like Ultraviolet Telescopes, Infrared Telescopes, etc." which is generally quite from the amateur world. Would you like to narrow your question to [amateur observing](https://astronomy.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/amateur-observing)? If so, maybe remove the UV/IR bit. If not, then go ahead and remove the tag I've added.  
> **username_0**: @uhoh I suppose adding your edit would at least aid in getting an answer that would satisfy most of my specifications but I do want something that systematically covers everything till recent knowledge right from scratch including the UV/IR Telescopes. Maybe I could mention it as an optional point, would that be fine?  
> **username_2**: @Aadhavan sure sounds good, but I have a hunch that there will not be any *single* source for all of this, unless it's a very superficial treatment. I think the reason that you couldn't find any is simply that there aren't any, but that's just my view. I think you can find sources that specifically cover telescope optics, and other sources on telescope development history, and others on focal plane techniques (sensors etc.) etc. It seems almost asking too much to require it all to be in a single source.  
> **username_0**: Well, I know it's a long shot. Although I do really hope I do find some. Anyways, Thank you!  
> **username_3**: @uhoh Thanks for the summary of the question, I changed my opinion and retracted my close-vote.  
> **username_1**: so is it really amateur observing you aim at, or are you (also) interested in how the big professional telescopes like VLTI, Keck, Spitzer etc were devised? IMHO amateur-observing doesn't fit to how the body of the question reads at all.  
> **username_0**: @planetmaker The kind of guide I am searching for is something that that should consist of a systematic flow of structure beginning from scratch and proceeding to a highly advanced level of knowledge. I do want it to eventually reach about how VLTI and other advanced telescopes were devised, but it's clear by uhoh's words too that something like that is going to be very difficult to find. Although it's a long shot, I am hoping for something conclusive. That's also the reason I didn't specify it should be a book rather it can be some kind of website which has all of these details in such a way.  

---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_4 on 2021-07-14. Score: 3

The closest that I know of would either be [Nightwatch](https://www.fireflybooks.com/catalogue/adult-books/nature-and-science/astronomy/terence-dickinson/product/8977-nightwatch-a-practical-guide-to-viewing-the-universe) (Terence Dickinson) and/or [The Backyard Astronomer's Guide](https://www.fireflybooks.com/catalogue/adult-books/nature-and-science/astronomy/terence-dickinson/product/14077-the-backyard-astronomer-s-guide) (also Terence Dickinson).

I don't think either of those cover your last requirement of "telescopes of all regions of the EM spectrum like Ultraviolet Telescopes, Infrared Telescopes, etc.", though.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Thanks for responding! Do both of these contain the physics/optics and engineering behind such telescopes? And the history behind their developments?  
> **username_4**: @Aadhavan The Backyard Astronomer's Guide does, and I think Nightwatch does briefly as well, though I don't have either to hand in order to double-check for you. Nightwatch is more about observing and TBAG goes into more detail about equipment.  

---

