Here is a list of the largest optical refracting telescopes sorted by lens diameter and focal length.
The largest practical functioning refracting telescope is the Yerkes Observatory 40 inch (102 cm) refractor, used for astronomical and scientific observation for over a century.
Most are classical Great refractors, which used achromatic doublets on an equatorial mount. However, other large refractors include a 21st century Solar telescope which is not directly comparable because it uses a single element non-achromatic lens, and the short-lived Great Paris Exhibition Telescope of 1900. It used a 78-inch (200 cm) Focault siderostat for aiming light into the Image-forming optical system part of the telescope, which had a 125 cm diameter lens. Using a siderostat incurs a reflective loss. Larger meniscus lenses have been used in later catadioptric telescopes which mix refractors and reflectors in the image-forming part of the telescope. As with reflecting telescopes, there was an ongoing struggle to balance cost with size, quality, and usefulness.
| Name/Observatory | Location at Debut |
Modern Location Name or Fate | Lens diameter | Focal length | Built | Comments | Image |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Great Paris Exhibition Telescope of 1900 | Paris 1900 Exposition | Dismantled 1900 | 125 cm (49.21") | 57 m (187 feet) | 1900 | Fixed lens, scrapped. Aimed via a 2m reflecting siderostat | |
| Yerkes Observatory | Williams Bay, Wisconsin, USA | - | 102 cm (40″) | 19.4 m (62′) | 1897 | Largest in current operation. | |
| Swedish 1-m Solar Telescope, ORM |
La Palma, Spain |
- | 98 cm (39.37") | 15 m | 2002 | Single element non-achromatic objective combined with reflective Adaptive optics and a Schupmann corrector. | |
| James Lick telescope Lick Observatory |
Mount Hamilton, California, USA | - | 91 cm (36″) | 17.6 m | 1888 | ||
| Grande Lunette Paris Observatory |
Meudon, France | - | 83 cm + 62 cm (32.67" + 24.40") | 16.2 m | 1891 | Double telescope | |
| Großer Refraktor Astrophysical Observatory Potsdam |
Potsdam, Deutsches Kaiserreich | Potsdam, Germany | 80 cm + 50 cm (31.5"+29.5") | 12.0 m | 1899 | Double telescope | |
| Grande Lunette Nice Observatory |
Nice, France | since 1988 Côte d'Azur Observatory | 77 cm (30.3″) | 17.9 m | 1886 | Biscoffscheim funded | |
| William Thaw Telescope Allegheny Observatory |
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA | - | 76 cm (30″) | 14.1 m | 1914 | Brashear made, photographic | |
| Pulkovo observatory | Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire | Destroyed | 76 cm (30″) | 12.8 m (42 feet) | 1885 | Destroyed during WWII, only lens (made by Alvan Clark & Sons) survives. | |
| 28-inch Grubb Refractor Royal Greenwich Observatory |
Greenwich, London, Great Britain | - | 71 cm (28″) | 8.5 m | 1894 | ||
| Großer Refraktor Vienna Observatory |
Vienna, Austrian Empire | Vienna, Austria | 69 cm (27" ) | 10.5 m | 1880 | Largest refractor in 1880 | |
| Great Treptow Refractor Treptow Observatory |
Berlin, Germany | - | 68 cm (26.77") | 21 m | 1896 | renamed Archenhold Observatory 1946 | |
| Leander McCormick Observatory | Charlottesville, Virginia, USA | - | 66 cm (26" ) | 9.9 m | 1884 | completed c. 1874, installed 1884 | |
| U.S. Naval Observatory | Foggy Bottom Washington, DC, USA | moved to Northwest, Washington, D.C., 1893 | 66 cm (26") | 9.9 m | 1873 | Largest refractor in 1873. Alvan Clark & Sons mounting replaced with Warner & Swasey mounting in 1893. | |
| Royal Greenwich Observatory | Herstmonceux, Great Britain | - | 66 cm (26") | 6.82 m | 1896 | ||
| Yale-Columbia Refractor Yale Southern Station |
Johannesburg, Union of South Africa | Relocated 1952 | 66 cm (26") | 10.8 m | 1925–1952 | Yale-Columbia Refractor moved to Mount Stromlo Observatory in 1952, same telescope as following entry. | |
| Yale-Columbia Refractor Mount Stromlo Observatory |
Mount Stromlo, Australia | Destroyed 2003 | 66 cm (26") | 10.8 m | 1952 | Yale-Columbia Refractor - Previously located in South Africa. Relocated to Australia in 1952. Destroyed by bush fire on January 18, 2003. | |
| 65 cm Zeiss Refractor, Pulkovo observatory | Germany | Saint Petersburg, Russia | 65 cm (25.59″) | 10.413 m | 1954 | War reparation from Germany In Pulkovo since 1954. | |
| Llano del Hato National Astronomical Observatory | Llano del Hato, Venezuela | - | 65 cm (25.6″) | 10.5 m | 1976 | ||
| Belgrade Observatory | Belgrade, Kingdom of Serbia | Belgrade, Serbia | 65 cm (25.6″) | 10.55 m | Zeiss made lens, same as at Berlin Observatory | ||
| Hida Observatory | Gifu, Japan | - | 65 cm (25.6″) | 10.50 m | 1972 | ||
| Observatory History Museum Mitaka 65 cm | Mitaka, Tokyo, Japan | - | 65 cm (25.6″) | 1929 | Carl Zeiss Jena | ||
| Berlin-Babelsberg Observatory |
Berlin, Germany | 65 cm (26 in) | 10.12 m (33 ft) | 1914 | Berlin Observatory just moved to Potsdam-Babelsberg in 1913; Zeiss lens | ||
| Newall Refractor Athens Observatory |
Athens, Greece | - | 62.5 cm (24.5″) | 8.86 m (29 ft) | 1869 | Built bt Thomas Cooke for Robert Stirling Newall. First located at his estate; donated and relocated to Cambridge Observatory in 1889; donated to Athens Observatory and relocated to Mt. Pentelikon in Greece in 1957. Currently used only for educational purposes. | |
| Lowell Observatory | Arizona, USA | - | 61 cm (24″) | 6.7 m (22.6 ft) | 1894 | Alvan Clark & Sons telescope | |
| Sproul Observatory | Pennsylvania, USA | - | 61 cm (24″) | 11.0 m (36 ft) | 1911 | ||
| Craig telescope | Wandsworth Common, London | Dismantled 1857 | 61 cm (24″) | 24.5 m (80 feet) | 1852 | Problem with lens figuring | |
| Grubb Parsons Double Refractor | Saltsjöbaden, Sweden | - | 60 + 50 cm (23.6″ + 19.7") |
8.0 m | 1930 | Stockholms Observatory in Saltsjöbaden | |
| Radcliffe Double Refractor University of London Observatory |
Oxford, UK | Mill Hill, London | 60 + 45 cm (23.6″ + 18") |
7.0 m | 1901 | Obtained from the Radcliffe Observatory and installed at ULO in 1938 | |
| Zeiss Double Refractor Bosscha Observatory |
Bandung, Dutch East Indies | Bandung, Indonesia | 60 cm (23.6″) | 10.7 m | 1928 | ||
| Der Große Refraktor (Great Refractor) Hamburg Observatory |
Bergedorf, Germany | - | 60 cm (23.6″) | 9 m | 1911 | ||
| Halstead Observatory | Princeton, USA | Roper Mountain Science Center, Greenville, SC | 58.4 cm (23″) | 9.8 m (32 ft) | 1881 | by Alvan Clark & Sons | |
| Chamberlin Observatory | Colorado, USA | - | 50 cm (20″) | 8.5 m (28 ft) | 1891 | First Light 1894 | |
| Van Vleck Observatory | Connecticut, USA | - | 50 cm (20″) | 8.4 m (27.5 ft) | 1922 | ||
| Chabot Observatory | Oakland, California, USA (2000) | 50 cm (20″) | 8.5 m (28 ft) | 1914 | "Rachael" Warner & Swazey Company (Optics John A Brashear Company) Refurb in 2000 and moved to present location. | ||
| Carnegie Double Astrograph Lick Observatory |
Mount Hamilton, California, USA | not in service threatened with removal |
50 cm (20″) | 4.67 m (14 ft) | 1941 | F7.4 | |
| Imperial Observatory | Straßburg, German Empire | Strasbourg, France | 48.5 cm (19.1″) | 7 m (23 ft) | 1880 | Then largest in German Empire | |
| 18½-in Dearborn Observatory Refractor | Chicago, USA | Evanston, USA | 47 cm (18.5″) | 1862 | by Alvan Clark & Sons | ||
| Wilder Observatory | Amherst College, Amherst, MA, USA | - | 46 cm (18″) | (25 ft) | 1903 | by Alvan Clark & Sons | |
| Flower Observatory | Philadelphia, USA | - | 46 cm (18″) | 6.7 m (22.6 ft) | 1896 | ||
| Royal Observatory | Cape Colony, British Empire | South Africa | 46 cm (18″) | 6.7 m (22.6 ft) | 1897 | ||
| Gran Ecuatorial Gautier Telescope Observatorio Astronómico La Plata |
La Plata, Argentina | - | 43.3 cm (17″) | 9,7 m | 1894 | Gautier | |
| Herget Telescope Cincinnati Observatory |
Cincinnati, Ohio | - | 40.64 cm (16″) | 1904 | Alvan Clark & Sons | ||
| Harvard Great Refractor Harvard College Observatory |
Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA | - | 38 cm (15″) | 1847 | largest telescope in America for 20 years | ||
| Lunette Arago Paris Observatory |
Paris, France | - | 38 cm (15") | 9 m | 1883 | by Gautier and Henry brothers | |
| Bamberg Refractor Urania Observatory (Berlin) |
Berlin-Moabit, Prussia | Berlin, Germany | 31.4 cm (12.36") | 5 m | 1889 | then biggest in Prussia, moved to Insulaner Wilhelm-Foerster Observatory in 1963 | |
| Irving Porter Church Refractor Fuertes Observatory |
Ithaca, New York | - | 30 cm (12″) | - | 1923 | by John Brashear, still used for instruction | |
| Silesian Planetarium and Astronomical Observatory | Katowice/Chorzów, Silesia, Poland | 30 cm (12") | 1955 | Largest and oldest Planetarium and Astronomical Observatory in Poland. The 3rd largest in Eastern Europe (east of Germany), after Pulkovo Observatory in Saint Petersburg, Russia and Belgrade Observatory in Belgrade, Serbia | |||
| Urania Sternwarte (Zurich) | Zurich, Switzerland | - | 30 cm (12″) | 5.05 m | 1907 | by Fraunhofer and Zeiss | |
| University of Illinois Observatory | Urbana, Illinois, USA | - | 30 cm (12″) | 1896 | by John Brashear, National Historic Landmark, still used for instruction | ||
| Mitchell Telescope Cincinnati Observatory |
Cincinnati, Ohio, USA | - | 28 cm (11″) | 1843 | Merz & Mahler; Oldest professional telescope still used weekly by the public | ||
| Mills Observatory | Dundee, Scotland (1951) | 25 cm (10″) | 1871 | by T. Cooke & Sons. Training telescope at St. Andrews 1938-1951 | |||
| Fraunhofer-Refraktor Berlin Observatory |
Berlin-Kreuzberg, Deutsches Kaiserreich | Moved 1913 to Munich, Germany | 24 cm (9.6″) | 4 m (13.4′) | 1835 | Used to discover Neptune; in Deutsches Museum, München since 1913 | |
| Great Dorpat Refractor (Fraunhofer) Dorpat/Tartu Observatory |
Dorpat, Governorate of Livonia | Tartu, Estonia | 24 cm (9.6″) | 4 m (13.4′) | 1824 | "..the first modern, achromatic, refracting telescope." |
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