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1. HISTROY OF TELESCOPE
The first known practical telescopes were invented in the Netherlands at the
beginning of the 1600s, by using glass lenses. They found use in both terrestrial
applications and astronomy.
This earliest telescope ( a refractor ) was built by the Dutch eyeglass maker
Hans Lippershey in 1608 after he accidentally viewed objects through two
different eyeglass lenses held a distance apart. He called his invention a kijker,
"looker" in Dutch, and intended it for military use. In 1609, the Italian
scientist Galileo Galilei built his own telescopes and was the first person to
make astronomical observations using them. These early telescopes consisted of
two glass lenses set within a hollow lead tube and were rather small; Galileo's
largest instrument was about 47 inches (120 cm) long and 2 inches (5 cm) in
diameter. Galileo happened to be in Venice in June 1609[17] and there heard of
the "Dutch perspective glass" by means of which distant objects appeared
nearer and larger. Galileo states that he solved the problem of the construction
of a telescope the first night after his return to Padua from Venice and made his
first telescope the next day by fitting a convex lens in one extremity of a leaden
tube and a concave lens in the other one. Galileo devoted his time to improving
and perfecting the telescope and soon succeeded in producing telescopes of
greatly increased power. His first telescope magnified three diameters, but he
soon made instruments which magnified eight diameters and finally, one that
magnified thirty-three diameters.
With this last instrument, he discovered in1610 the satellites of Jupiter and
soon afterwards the spots on the sun, the phases of Venus, and the hills and
valleys on the Moon.
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TELESCOPE
Galileo's instrument was the first to be given the name "Telescope". The
name was invented by the Greek poet/theologian Giovanni Demisiani at a
banquet held on April 14, 1611 by Prince Federico Cesi to make Galileo Galilei
a member of the Accademia dei Lincei. The word was created from the Greek
tele = 'far' and skopein = 'to look or see'; teleskopos = 'far-seeing'
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TELESCOPE
Although large refracting telescopes were very popular in the second half of
the 19th century, for most research purposes the refracting telescope has been
superseded by the reflecting telescope which allows larger apertures.
A refractor's magnification is calculated by dividing the focal length of the
objective lens by that of the eyepiece.
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TELESCOPE
5. What is the telescope made out of?
A telescope consists of an optical system (the lenses and/or mirrors) and
hardware components to hold the optical system in place and allow it to be
maneuvered and focused. Lenses must be made from optical glass, a special
kind of glass which is much purer and more uniform than ordinary glass. The
most important raw material used to make optical glass is silicon dioxide,
which must not contain more than one-tenth of one percent (0.1%) of
impurities.
• Optical glasses are generally divided into two 1. crown glasses
2.flint glasses.
Crown glasses contain varying amounts of boron oxide, sodium oxide,
potassium oxide, barium oxide, and zinc oxide. Flint glasses contain lead
oxide. The antireflective coating on telescope lenses is usually composed of
magnesium fluoride.
A telescope mirror can be made from glass that is somewhat less pure than
that used to make a lens, since light does not pass through it. Often a strong,
temperature-resistant glass such as Pyrex is used. Pyrex is a brand name for
glass composed of silicon dioxide, boron oxide, and aluminum oxide. The
reflective coating for telescope mirrors is usually made from aluminum, and the
protective coating on top of the reflective coating is usually composed of
silicon dioxide.
Hardware components that are directly involved with the optical system are
usually manufactured from steel or steel and zinc alloys. Less critical parts can
be made from light, inexpensive materials such as aluminum or acrylonitrile-
butadiene-styrene plastic, commonly called ABS.
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TELESCOPE
6. What is the purpose of a telescope?
The main purpose of telescope is to gather the light; i.e. to collect and focus
photons. We can think of telescope then as a “light bucket”-the bigger the
bucket, the more photons a telescope can collect.
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TELESCOPE
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