Quote:
Originally Posted by Camelopardalis
But isn't this just an illusion? That the scope lacks the resolving power to actually see the disturbances in the atmosphere?
Don't get me wrong, I  refractors... |
In order to answer this properly, I think some evaluation of the optical coatings used on the refractor in question would be required. The number of elements used in the optical path (also resulting in more coatings between the light source and your eyeball) would have some impact also. Obviously there's a lot more going on there compared to having light reflect off a couple of mirrors.