Eyepiece-This is the part where you will look through so that you can see the magnified image. It has a lens with a power of magnification of about 10X. This is one of the most recognizable parts of a compound microscope.
Tube-This part connects the Eyepiece to the Objective glass lenses.
Objective Lenses-In most microscopes, you will be able to identify about three to four objective lenses attached at the end of the Tube; the most common rate of these lenses range from 4X to 100X magnifying powers. As a standard, the longest objective lens provides greater magnifying power while the shortest provides the minimum.
Turret-The “dish” that provides support for all the Objective lenses. This dish can be rotated to allow the user to change power magnifications.
Arm-This is the metallic curved part of the microscope which connects the Tube to the Base of the device.
Base-It is the bottom part of the device which makes the microscope stable. It is somehow horseshoe in appearance.
Illuminator-Modern microscopes can use this device which provides a light source to illuminate the specimen in the glass. Other previously manufactured devices provide a type of reflecting glass which acquires light from external sources.
Stage-It is the area where you will place the specimen (on a glass slide) for observation.
As you may have noticed, there are several parts of the microscope that work together to perform a single goal—to let you see images at microscopic levels. Now that you are familiar with the basic parts of a microscope, you can enjoy more looking at miniature unseen worlds compared to simply being a user.
