The telescope is a device that makes objects seem and shows objects too faint to be seen by the eye alone. It does this by collecting and focusing light and other forms of electromagnetic radiation.
Near-perfect ellipsoid lenses have been found among Viking artifacts, hinting that the Vikings likely made telescopes 1000 years ago, 500 years before Galileo.
The inventors of the telescope were two Dutchmen Hans Lipperhey and Zacharias Jansen. They were the first in 1608 to combine convex and concave lenses at either end of a wooden tube.
Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei heard about the Dutch telescope in June 1609 and built his own within a month. He originally touted the instrument as a military aid, before using it to look to the stars.
The word "telescope" (from the Greek teleskopos "far-seeing") was coined in 1611 by the Greek mathematician Giovanni Demisiani for one of Galileo Galilei's instruments presented at a banquet at the Accademia dei Lincei. Galileo had previously used the term "perspicillum".
The first known practical telescopes were refracting telescopes in which light is collected by a lens which focuses light down a tube, forming an image magnified by an eyepiece. The first reflecting telescope, which uses concave mirrors to collect and focus light, was built by Sir Isaac Newton in 1668. This huge leap forward in telescope technology made astronomical observation much more accurate.
The 91 cm refracting telescope at the Lick Observatory near San Jose, California, at the time the largest telescope in the world, was used for the first time in 1888.
Near-perfect ellipsoid lenses have been found among Viking artifacts, hinting that the Vikings likely made telescopes 1000 years ago, 500 years before Galileo.
The inventors of the telescope were two Dutchmen Hans Lipperhey and Zacharias Jansen. They were the first in 1608 to combine convex and concave lenses at either end of a wooden tube.
Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei heard about the Dutch telescope in June 1609 and built his own within a month. He originally touted the instrument as a military aid, before using it to look to the stars.
The word "telescope" (from the Greek teleskopos "far-seeing") was coined in 1611 by the Greek mathematician Giovanni Demisiani for one of Galileo Galilei's instruments presented at a banquet at the Accademia dei Lincei. Galileo had previously used the term "perspicillum".
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| 19th-century painting depicting Galileo Galilei displaying his telescope in 1609 |
The first known practical telescopes were refracting telescopes in which light is collected by a lens which focuses light down a tube, forming an image magnified by an eyepiece. The first reflecting telescope, which uses concave mirrors to collect and focus light, was built by Sir Isaac Newton in 1668. This huge leap forward in telescope technology made astronomical observation much more accurate.
The 91 cm refracting telescope at the Lick Observatory near San Jose, California, at the time the largest telescope in the world, was used for the first time in 1888.
The Kepler space telescope was launched on March 7, 2009, by NASA's Launch Services Program. Its mission was to search for Earth-like planets orbiting other stars, by observing the brightness of those stars and looking for periodic dips in brightness that could indicate the presence of a planet passing in front of the star.
The Kepler mission was highly successful, discovering thousands of exoplanets and revolutionizing our understanding of the prevalence and diversity of planets in our galaxy. The spacecraft was retired in 2018 after running out of fuel, but its legacy continues to shape the field of exoplanet research.
Currently, the largest, ground-based telescope is the Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC) located at the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory on the island of La Palma, on the Canary Islands. The aperture of this reflecting telescope reaches a total 10.4 metres (410 in).
Early telescopes could magnify up to only 20 times; today even the amateur astronomer can pick up a telescope with 500x magnification for as little as $60.
Space-based telescopes, such as the Hubble Space Telescope, take advantage of being above the Earth's atmosphere to reach higher resolution and greater light gathering through longer exposure time.
Currently, the largest, ground-based telescope is the Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC) located at the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory on the island of La Palma, on the Canary Islands. The aperture of this reflecting telescope reaches a total 10.4 metres (410 in).
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| Gran Telescopio Canarias. By H. Raab (User:Vesta) |
Early telescopes could magnify up to only 20 times; today even the amateur astronomer can pick up a telescope with 500x magnification for as little as $60.
Space-based telescopes, such as the Hubble Space Telescope, take advantage of being above the Earth's atmosphere to reach higher resolution and greater light gathering through longer exposure time.
Whale oil is used to lubricate the Hubble Space Telescope. This is because sperm whale oil has the unique benefit of not freezing in the subzero temperatures of space.
The Hubble Space Telescope is the size of a bus but is so energy efficient that it uses only the same amount of power as a clothes dryer.
Source The Independent
The Hubble Space Telescope is the size of a bus but is so energy efficient that it uses only the same amount of power as a clothes dryer.
Source The Independent
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