Explore Alliance Presents: How Do You KNOW? – Episode #7: 'Magnification: Yes, you can... No, you can't!'

“How powerful is that telescope?” is more often than not the first thing out of a person’s mouth when they see a large telescope. To the uninitiated, telescopes are often thought of as "magnification machines". It usually takes quite a bit of time and effort to convince someone that magnification is not a measure of optical quality or telescope performance.