Abstract: The catadioptric panoramic optical imaging system has the imaging characteristics of the plane-symmetric optical system. Thus, the application of focal power governing equations and sixth-order wave aberration theory of ultra-large field of view optical system were proposed to preliminarily determine the initial parameters of system structure. Based on this structure, the Zemax software was applied to design and optimize, and a catadioptric panoramic optical imaging system consisting of one even aspherical mirror and six refractors was obtained. This designed system worked in the visible wave band. The angle range of the whole field of view is 12°~178°, and the F number is 3.5, thus its aberration is well corrected. The value of modulation transfer function is greater than 0.37 at the spatial frequency of 40 lp/mm, which has better imaging performance and meets the practical application requirements. At the same time, the tolerance analysis of the designed system is carried out.