List of telescope parts and construction

Accessories

 * Finderscope
 * Iron sight
 * Reflector (reflex) sight
 * Cheshire collimator: A simple tool to collimate a telescope

Control

 * Clock drive
 * GoTo

Mechanical construction

 * Mirror support cell
 * Serrurier truss
 * Silvering

Mounts

 * Telescope mount - Types include:
 * Altazimuth mount
 * Equatorial mount
 * Equatorial platform
 * Poncet Platform
 * Fork mount
 * German equatorial mount
 * Springfield mount

Optics
Mirrors and lenses are the critical light-bending components of a telescope. Subsequent (sometimes optional) components realign, segment, or in some way modify the light of an incoming image:
 * Objective: The first lens or curved mirror that collects and focuses the incoming light.
 * Primary lens: The objective of a refracting telescope.
 * Primary mirror: The objective of a reflecting telescope.
 * Corrector plate: A full aperture negative lens placed before a primary mirror designed to correct the optical aberrations of the mirror.
 * Schmidt corrector plate: An aspheric-shaped corrector plate used in the Schmidt telescope.
 * Meniscus corrector: A meniscus-shaped corrector plate usually used in the Maksutov telescope.
 * Focusing mask: A full aperture mask temporarily placed before the primary mirror to aid in focusing the telescope.
 * Bahtinov mask
 * Carey mask
 * Hartmann mask
 * Sub-aperture corrector: One or a series of corrective lens (sometimes combined with a corrective curved mirror) placed after (near the focus) a primary mirror designed to correct the optical aberrations of the mirror. These can be just a small version of the corrector plate, but since they are usually used in a Cassegrain configuration in front of the secondary mirror they require additional modification since the light passes through them twice.
 * Secondary mirror
 * Curved mirror
 * Honeycomb mirror
 * Liquid mirror
 * Parabolic reflector
 * Parabolic reflector
 * Field lens: A correcting lens placed just before the image plane of a telescope.
 * Telecompressor or focal reducer: Optical element to decrease the telescope's focal length and magnification (usually by a fixed percentage) and widen the field of view, providing opposite effects of a Barlow lens.
 * Star Diagonal: Used to change the angle of the light coming out of a telescope, for easier viewing.
 * Herschel Wedge: Similar to a star diagonal with a wedge-shaped unsilvered prism reflector that reduces incoming light by up to 95% for solar viewing.
 * Coma corrector a correcting lens used to reduce coma distortion in fast reflecting telescopes.
 * Field flattener a correcting lens used to reduce field curvature in refracting telescopes for astrophotography.
 * Barlow lens: Optical element to increase the telescope's focal length and magnification, narrow the field of view and reduce coma distortion, providing opposite effects of a telecompressor.
 * Astronomical filter: Used to select specific colors (or light frequencies) for astrophotography.
 * Filter wheel: One manner to easily insert filters into the optical train. Mostly used for photography.
 * Focuser: Allows the user to adjust the focus by moving the eyepiece along the optical axis.
 * Eyepiece: Performs the final focus correction before the light reaches the eye.
 * Charge-coupled device (CCD): A light-sensitive integrated circuit digital sensor (commonly used in digital cameras) that turns light into an electrical charge used to collection image data.

Generally applicable to all items:
 * Metallizing: A way of coating mirrors for high-efficiency light reflection.
 * Optical coating: Thin layers applied to mirrors, filters, and lenses to avoid reflections, as well as absorb certain colors.

Software and control interfaces

 * Active optics
 * Adaptive optics
 * ASCOM
 * EQMod
 * INDI
 * PLate OPtimizer
 * Versatile Real-Time Executive

Support equipment and buildings

 * Observatory
 * Equatorial room