14-inch Telescopes (355mm)

What is a 14-inch telescope?

A 14-inch telescope is a powerful optical instrument designed for observing celestial objects in the night sky. It features a significant aperture that determines its light-gathering power and resolution, enabling astronomers to capture clear and detailed images of stars, planets, galaxies, and deep space objects. The telescope’s focal length is typically around 1400mm, with a focal ratio of f/11, ensuring precise and high-quality observations.

Equipped with various eyepieces, a 14-inch telescope offers a magnification power of around 200x, allowing users to adjust the magnification and field of view for different observing needs. The telescope’s weight ranges from 6 lbs to 18 lbs, making it a portable and versatile instrument suitable for both amateur and professional astronomers.

A 14-inch telescope is ideal for planetary observing, enabling astronomers to view celestial bodies such as Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Venus, and Mercury with clarity and detail. It is also suitable for sky observing, allowing users to explore nebulae, stars, and deep space objects like the Lagoon Nebula, Dumbbell Nebula, and Albireo.

Moreover, a 14-inch telescope is well-suited for astrophotography, including monochrome and webcam astrophotography, enabling users to capture stunning images of faint, distant objects and achieve edge-to-edge sharpness. The telescope’s resolution, field of view, and light-gathering power make it an excellent tool for capturing detailed and high-quality astrophotography images.

With its Cassegrain or Maksutov-Cassegrain design, a 14-inch telescope offers a compact body, longer focal length, and higher magnification, ensuring improved image quality and a convenient focal point location. The telescope’s optical design focuses on gathering and focusing light from the night sky, correcting aberrations, and enabling precise observation of celestial objects.

Overall, a 14-inch telescope combines advanced features, including a 496 times light-gathering power compared to the human eye, making it a valuable instrument for astronomers and stargazers seeking a powerful and versatile telescope for observing the wonders of the universe.

What is a 14-inch refractor telescope?

A 14-inch refractor telescope is a large, powerful optical instrument designed for observing celestial objects with exceptional clarity and detail. At the heart of this telescope is its objective lens, which gathers and focuses light to create sharp images of planets, stars, galaxies, and nebulae. The telescope’s aperture, which measures 14 inches in diameter, allows for superior light-gathering capabilities, resulting in clear, detailed observations of various sky objects.

Mounted on an azimuth mount with sturdy construction, a 14-inch refractor telescope offers stability, durability, and precise tracking, ensuring smooth and accurate movement when exploring the night sky. The telescope’s focal length of 154 inches enables high magnification, making it ideal for detailed astronomical observations.

Equipped with quality optical glass, such as ED or apochromatic glass, a 14-inch refractor telescope minimizes chromatic aberration and delivers high-quality images with exceptional color accuracy. The telescope features eyepieces that magnify the images produced by the objective lens, allowing for adjustable magnification and field of view.

With a length of approximately 154 inches and an average weight of 14.3 lbs, a 14-inch refractor telescope strikes a balance between portability and performance, making it a versatile and user-friendly instrument for both amateur and experienced astronomers. The telescope’s tube houses essential components, impacting factors such as focal length, field of view, and image quality, enhancing the overall viewing experience.

A 14-inch refractor telescope is designed to observe a wide range of celestial objects, including galaxies, nebulae, and star clusters. It features a dew shield to prevent moisture buildup on the lens during night observations and a star diagonal for comfortable viewing at different angles. Additionally, the telescope is equipped with a finder scope to assist in locating and centering celestial objects before viewing them through the main telescope.

What is a 14-inch reflector telescope?

A 14-inch reflector telescope is a type of telescope that uses a 14-inch diameter primary mirror to gather and focus light. This size of telescope is considered large and is suitable for both amateur and serious astronomers. With a 14-inch reflector telescope, you can observe a variety of celestial objects, including the Moon, planets such as Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune, as well as deep-sky objects like galaxies and nebulae. The telescope’s large aperture allows it to gather a significant amount of light, resulting in clear and detailed views of these objects. Additionally, some 14-inch reflector telescopes come with motorized alt-azimuth mounts and computerized tracking apps to make it easier to locate and track celestial objects. However, the large size and weight of these telescopes can make them difficult to transport and maneuver.

What space objects can you see with a 14-inch telescope?

With a 14-inch telescope, you can observe detailed features on planets such as Mars, including its ice caps and major features during good oppositions. You can also see the moons of Mars, Phobos and Demos, which are not visible with smaller telescopes. You can observe detailed structures of galaxies and see lots of detail in nebulae, including possible color in brighter nebulae, which is not possible with smaller telescopes. The 14-inch telescope allows you to see stars up to magnitude 14.5, which is fainter than what smaller telescopes can show. This means you can observe almost the entire NGC and IC objects. You can also see Neptune’s moon Triton and the Encke division in Saturn’s rings, which are not visible with smaller telescopes.

Types and Technical Specifications of 14-inch telescopes

Types

Cassegrain: Example: Meade 14″ ACF LX200 Telescope

PlaneWave CDK Design: Example: PlaneWave CDK350 (14-inch) Telescope System

Imaging Dall Kirkham: Example: AG Optical 14.5″ iDK f/6.7 Imaging Dall Kirkham Telescope

Ritchey Chretien: Example: TPO 14″ f/8 Ritchey Chretien Truss Tube Telescope

Schmidt-Cassegrain: Example: Celestron 14″ CGE Schmidt-Cassegrain OTA

Technical Specifications

Aperture: 355-368 mm (14-14.5 inch)

Focal Length: 2463-3916 mm

Focal ratio: f/6.7-f/11

Highest Magnification: 710x-840x

Light Gathering Power: 2572- 2764x

Price: 6,000-15,500$

Images taken with 14-inch telescopes

Examples of 14-inch telescopes

• Meade 14″ LX850-ACF Catadioptric OTA Telescope
• Meade 14″ ACF LX200 Telescope
• PlaneWave CDK350 (14-inch) Telescope System
• AG Optical 14.5″ iDK f/6.7 Imaging Dall Kirkham Telescope
• Celestron CGX-L Equatorial 1400 EdgeHD Telescope Bundle – CE-12077
• Meade LX200 14″ f/10 ACF UHTC OTA
• PlaneWave 14-Inch CDK f/7.2 OTA Telescope with Fused Silica Optics
• TPO 14″ f/8 Ritchey Chretien Truss Tube Telescope
• Celestron 14″ EdgeHD OTA with CGE Mount Plate
• Celestron 14″ CGE Schmidt-Cassegrain OTA
• iOptron 14-Inch f/8 Ritchey Chretien Reflecting OTA Telescope
• Meade 14″ LX850-ACF Catadioptric OTA Telescope

How do 14-inch telescopes compare to other size telescopes

14-inch vs 15-inch telescope

Though the 14-inch telescope has less aperture than the 15-inch scopes, it offers a focal ratio of  f/6.7-f/11 whereas the 15-inch telescopes provide f/4.2. Besides, 15-inch telescopes offer a focal length of 1600 mm whereas the 14-inch telescopes vary from 2463-3916 mm in focal lengths.

14-inch vs 16-inch telescopes

Though the 14-inch telescope has less aperture than the 16-inch scopes, it offers a focal ratio of  f/6.7-f/11 whereas the 16-inch telescopes vary from f/10 to f/4.43. Besides, 14-inch telescopes offer a focal length of 2463-3916 mm whereas the 16-inch telescopes start from 1800mm to 4064 mm in focal lengths. Moreover, 14-inch telescopes provide 2572- 2764x light-gathering power, which increases to  3364x- 4318x in the case of 16- inch telescopes.

14-inch vs 17-inch telescope

14-inch telescopes provide a focal length of 2463-3916 mm, while 17-inch has a focal length of 2939mm. Besides, 14-inch telescopes cannot remove off-axis astigmatism and field curvature whereas 17-inch telescopes can eliminate them completely.

14-inch vs 18-inch telescope

14-inch telescopes provide a focal length of 2463-3916 mm with a focal ratio of  f/6.7-f/11. In contrast, an 18-inch telescope is 1900mm in focal length and the focal ratio is f/4.2. However, the price of the 18-inch telescope is three times that of the 14-inch scope.