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This is a list of large optical telescopes. For telescopes larger than 3 meters in aperture see List of largest optical reflecting telescopes . This list combines large or expensive reflecting telescopes from any era, as what constitutes famous reflector has changed over time.
The Swedish 1-m Solar Telescope, with a lens diameter of 43 inches, is technically the largest, with 39 inches clear for the aperture.The second largest refracting telescope in the world is the Yerkes Observatory 40 inch (102 cm) refractor, used for astronomical and scientific observation for over a century.
This list of the largest optical reflecting telescopes with objective diameters of 3.0 metres (120 in) or greater is sorted by aperture, which is a measure of the light-gathering power and resolution of a reflecting telescope. The mirrors themselves can be larger than the aperture, and some telescopes may use aperture synthesis through ...
People flock to the new David Dunlap Observatory in the 1930s, the second largest reflecting telescope in the world going by a mirror diameter of 74 inches (about 1.9 meters) at that time. Telescopes have grown in size since they first appeared around 1608. The following tables list the increase in size over the years.
Hale Telescope Palomar Obs. 200 inch 508 cm 1949 USA: Hooker Telescope Mount Wilson Obs. 100 inch 254 cm 1917 USA: McDonald Obs. 82 inch i.e. Otto Struve Telescope: 82 inch 208 cm 1939 USA: David Dunlap Observatory: 74 inch 188 cm 1935 Canada: Plaskett telescope Dominion Astrophysical Obs. 72 inch 182 cm 1918 Canada: 69-inch Perkins Telescope [10]
Ultimately, a valid comparison between two telescopes must take into consideration more specifications, when a general measurement becomes obtuse. Aperture of the primary mirror alone can be poor measure of a reflective telescope's significance; for example, the Hubble Space Telescope has only a 2.4 metres (94 in) primary mirror.
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Comparison of nominal sizes of apertures of the above extremely large telescopes and some notable optical telescopes. An extremely large telescope (ELT) is an astronomical observatory featuring an optical telescope with an aperture for its primary mirror from 20 metres up to 100 metres across, [1] [2] when discussing reflecting telescopes of optical wavelengths including ultraviolet (UV ...