Astronomy Phys1160 Essay
History of Telescopes
We have all heard about telescopes and how useful they are in our present time. We also generally associate telescopes to astronomy like the Hubble Space Telescope. There is a rich history behind its invention and its further progression which we will now discuss. The first type of telescope invented was an optical telescope. This telescope has three designs, namely, refracting telescopes, reflecting telescopes and catadioptric telescopes (refracting and reflecting combined). Further progress was made in developing other kinds of telescopes such as the invention of radio telescopes, space telescopes and solar telescopes. Telescopes have been very useful in exploring new possibilities outside the Earth and there is an increasing demand for larger telescopes.
The first telescope invented was traced to the 17th century in Netherlands.
In 1608, Hans Lippershey designed an optical telescope (refracting) called the “looker” by aligning a concave and a convex lens inside a metal tube.
The convex lens refracted light to a specific point on the concave eyepiece making distant objects look magnified. When Galileo heard about the 'looker', he decided to improveupon its design. Galileo called his model the 'telescope'. In his first attempt, Galileo built a three-power instrument containing a convex and a concave lens in 1609. He was more successful in further attempts to magnify objects to about thirty times. Galileo's invention received a lot of praise. Due to his telescopes, observations could be made indicating that the planets revolved around the sun. In 1610, Galileo noticed bodies orbiting around Jupiter and hence discovered Jupiter's four moons (Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto)1. Galileo discovered the Earth's moon as well as sunspots. He also noticed that stars in the Milky Way are packed densely together. In 1611, Johannes Kepler decided to change the design of the telescope by using two convex lenses. The downside to this method is
We have all heard about telescopes and how useful they are in our present time. We also generally associate telescopes to astronomy like the Hubble Space Telescope. There is a rich history behind its invention and its further progression which we will now discuss. The first type of telescope invented was an optical telescope. This telescope has three designs, namely, refracting telescopes, reflecting telescopes and catadioptric telescopes (refracting and reflecting combined). Further progress was made in developing other kinds of telescopes such as the invention of radio telescopes, space telescopes and solar telescopes. Telescopes have been very useful in exploring new possibilities outside the Earth and there is an increasing demand for larger telescopes.
The first telescope invented was traced to the 17th century in Netherlands.
In 1608, Hans Lippershey designed an optical telescope (refracting) called the “looker” by aligning a concave and a convex lens inside a metal tube.
The convex lens refracted light to a specific point on the concave eyepiece making distant objects look magnified. When Galileo heard about the 'looker', he decided to improveupon its design. Galileo called his model the 'telescope'. In his first attempt, Galileo built a three-power instrument containing a convex and a concave lens in 1609. He was more successful in further attempts to magnify objects to about thirty times. Galileo's invention received a lot of praise. Due to his telescopes, observations could be made indicating that the planets revolved around the sun. In 1610, Galileo noticed bodies orbiting around Jupiter and hence discovered Jupiter's four moons (Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto)1. Galileo discovered the Earth's moon as well as sunspots. He also noticed that stars in the Milky Way are packed densely together. In 1611, Johannes Kepler decided to change the design of the telescope by using two convex lenses. The downside to this method is