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Telescope

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For other uses, see Telescope (disambiguation).
The 100 inch (2.5 m) Hooker reflecting telescope at Mount Wilson Observatory near Los Angeles, California.

A telescope is an instrument designed for the observation of remote objects and the collection of electromagnetic radiation. The first known practically functioning telescopes were invented in the [[Netherlands] at the beginning of the 17th century. The name "Telescope" (from the Greek tele = 'far' and skopein = 'to look or see'; teleskopos = 'far-seeing') was invented by an unidentified Greek poet/theologian who was present at a banquet held in 1611 by Prince Federico Cesi[1]. It was given to a version of the instrument constructed by Galileo Galilei. "Telescopes" can refer to a whole range of instruments operating in most regions of the electromagnetic spectrum.

History

Main article: History of telescopes

The history of the telescope dates back to the Middle Ages, when Ibn al-Haytham, Robert Grosseteste and other scientists studied magnifying properties of lenses. Although there were some recorded instances of pre-17th century Middle Eastern and European opticians—such as Leonard Digges, Taqi al-Din and others—creating devices that could have functioned as telescopes, the earliest known working telescopes in the modern sense were refracting telescopes that appeared in the Netherlands in 1608. These were credited to three individuals: Hans Lippershey and Zacharias Janssen—who were spectacle-makers in Middelburg, and Jacob Metius of Alkmaar—also known as Jacob Adriaanszoon. Galileo greatly improved upon this design the following year. Niccolò Zucchi is credited with constructing the first telescope to use mirrors: a reflecting telescope in 1616. In 1668, Isaac Newton designed an improved a reflecting telescope that bares his name, the "Newtonian reflector."

The invention of the achromatic lens in 1733, in part, corrected color aberrations present in the simple lense and enabled the construction of shorter, higher functioning refracting telescopes. Reflecting telescopes (although not limited by the color problems seen in refractors) were hampered by the use of fast tarnishing speculum metal mirrors employed during the 18th and early 19th century—a problem alleviated by the introduction of silver coated glass mirrors in 1857.[2], and aluminized mirrors in 1932[3]. At around 1 meter (40 inches), the maximum physical size limit of the refracting telescope objectives has dictated that the vast majority of large optical researching telescopes built since the turn of the 20th century be reflector-implemented.

The 20th century also saw the development of telescopes that worked in a wide range of wavelengths from radio, to gamma-rays. The first radio telescope went into operation in 1937. Since then, a tremendous variety of complex astronomical instruments have been developed.

Types of telescopes

The name "telescope" covers a wide range of instruments and is difficult to define. They all have the attribute of collecting electromagnetic radiation so it can be studied or analyzed in some manner. The most common type is the optical telescope; other types also exist and are listed below.

Optical telescopes

50 cm refracting telescope at Nice Observatory.
Main article: Optical telescope

An optical telescope gathers and focuses light mainly from the visible part of the electromagnetic spectrum (although some work in the infrared and ultraviolet). Optical telescopes increase the apparent angular size of distant objects as well as their apparent brightness. In order for the image to be observed, photographed, studied, and sent to a computer, telescopes work by employing one or more curved optical elements—usually made from glass—lenses, or mirrors to gather light and other electromagnetic radiation to bring that light or radiation to a focal point. Optical telescopes are used for astronomy and in many non-astronomical instruments, including: theodolites (including transits), spotting scopes, monoculars, binoculars, camera lenses, and spyglasses. There are three main types:

Radio telescopes

Main article: Radio telescope
The Very Large Array at Socorro, New Mexico, United States.

Radio telescopes are directional radio antennas that often have a parabolic shape. The dishes are sometimes constructed of a conductive wire mesh whose openings are smaller than the wavelength being observed. Multi-element Radio telescopes are constructed from pairs or larger groups of these dishes to synthesize large 'virtual' apertures that are similar in size to the separation between the telescopes; this process is known as aperture synthesis. As of 2005, the current record array size is many times the width of the Earth—utilizing space-based Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) telescopes such as the Japanese HALCA (Highly Advanced Laboratory for Communications and Astronomy) VSOP (VLBI Space Observatory Program) satellite. Aperture synthesis is now also being applied to optical telescopes using optical interferometers (arrays of optical telescopes) and aperture masking interferometry at single reflecting telescopes. Radio telescopes are also used to collect microwave radiation, which is used to collect radiation when any visible light is obstructed or faint, such as from quasars. Some radio telescopes are used by programs such as SETI and the Arecibo Observatory to search for exterrestrial life. One particularly exciting example is the Wow! signal, recorded in 1977.

X-ray and gamma-ray telescopes

Main articles: X-ray astronomy and gamma-ray astronomy

X-ray and gamma-ray radiation go through most metals and glasses, but some X-ray telescopes use Wolter telescopes composed of ring-shaped 'glancing' mirrors made of heavy metals that are able to reflect the rays just a few degrees. The mirrors are usually a section of a rotated parabola and a hyperbola, or ellipse. Gamma-ray telescopes refrain from focusing completely and use coded aperture masks: the patterns of the shadow the mask creates can be reconstructed to form an image. These types of telescopes are usually on Earth-orbiting satellites or high-flying balloons since the Earth's atmosphere is opaque to this part of the electromagnetic spectrum.

A diagram of the electromagnetic spectrum with the Earth's atmospheric transmittance (or opacity) and the types of telescopes used to image parts of the spectrum.

Other types

Notable telescopes

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Telescopes.
File:Newtonian Telescopes.JPG
A group of Newtonian Telescopes at Perkins Observatory, Delaware, Ohio

Notes

  1. ^ omni-optical.com "A Very Short History of the Telescope"
  2. ^ madehow.com - Inventor Biographies - Jean-Bernard-Léon Foucault Biography (1819-1868)
  3. ^ Bakich sample pages Chapter 2, Page 3 "John Donavan Strong, a young physicist at the California Institute of Technology, was one of the first to coat a mirror with aluminum. He did it by thermal vacuum evaporation. The first mirror he aluminized, in 1932, is the earliest known example of a telescope mirror coated by this technique."

References

  • Contemporary Astronomy - Second Edition, Jay M. Pasachoff, Saunders Colleges Publishing - 1981, ISBN 0-03-057861-2
  • Sabra, A. I. & Hogendijk, J. P. (2003), The Enterprise of Science in Islam: New Perspectives, MIT Press, pp. 85-118, ISBN 0262194821

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