The larger the telescope's main light-collecting element, whether lens or mirror, the more light is collected. Although magnification, or power, is useful, it has no inherent effect whatever in determining the level of detail visible through a telescope. The planet Saturn. This image shows Saturn approximately as it appears under good atmospheric conditions through the Meate ETX telescope at a power of 100x. It is the larger telescope's advantage in light-collecting capability that permits it to present more detail, more information, to the eye than is possible through the smaller telescope, irrespective of the powers employed on either instrument.
All telescopes fall into one of three optical classes.
The relative advantages of each of these telescope designs will be made clear below. Refracting Telescopes use a large objective lens as their primary light-collecting element. Reflecting Telescopes use a concave primary mirror to collect light and form an image. In the Newtonian type of reflector, light is reflected by a small, flat secondary mirror to the side of the main tube for observation of the image. Meade Model 4500 .