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Telescope, device used to form magnified images of distant objects. The telescope is undoubtedly the most important investigative tool in astronomy. It provides a means of collecting and analyzing radiation from celestial objects, even those in the far reaches of the universe.
Telescope - Reflecting, Astronomy, Optics: Reflectors are used not only to examine the visible region of the electromagnetic spectrum but also to explore both the shorter- and longer-wavelength regions adjacent to it (i.e., the ultraviolet and the infrared).
Telescope - Optics, Astronomy, Instrumentation: Galileo is credited with having developed telescopes for astronomical observation in 1609. While the largest of his instruments was only about 120 cm (47 inches) long and had an objective diameter of 5 cm (2 inches), it was equipped with an eyepiece that provided an upright (i.e., erect) image.
Telescope - Light Gathering, Resolution: The most important of all the powers of an optical telescope is its light-gathering power. This capacity is strictly a function of the diameter of the clear objective—that is, the aperture—of the telescope.
Schmidt telescope. The Ritchey-Chrétien design has a good field of view of about 1°. For some astronomical applications, however, photographing larger areas of the sky is mandatory. In 1930 Bernhard Schmidt, an optician at the Hamburg Observatory in Bergedorf, Germany, designed a catadioptric telescope that satisfied the requirement of ...
telescope, Device that collects light from and magnifies images of distant objects, undoubtedly the most important investigative tool in astronomy. The first telescopes focused visible light by refraction through lens es; later instruments used reflection from curved mirrors (see optics).
Hubble Space Telescope, the first sophisticated optical observatory placed into Earth’s orbit. Some of its many triumphs included the Hubble Deep Field, a photograph of about 1,500 galaxies revealing galactic evolution, and the discoveries of Hydra and Nix, small moons orbiting the dwarf planet Pluto.
gamma-ray telescope, instrument designed to detect and resolve gamma rays from sources outside Earth’s atmosphere. Gamma rays are the shortest waves (about 0.1 angstrom or less) and therefore have the highest energy in the electromagnetic spectrum.
The first and most familiar type, however, is the optical telescope, which provides a detailed, magnified image using light in the visible part of the spectrum. Telescopes, sometimes used in pairs called binoculars, are commonly used to observe birds, ships, or other objects here on Earth.
Radio telescope, astronomical instrument consisting of a radio receiver and an antenna system that is used to detect radio-frequency radiation between wavelengths of about 10 meters (30 megahertz [MHz]) and 1 mm (300 gigahertz [GHz]) emitted by extraterrestrial sources.