TELESCOPES

Astronomy is an observationally based science, so we also need to understand how the tools work!
Until the mid-1900s, only visible light collected in astronomy. Since then, due to huge advances in
technology, we are now able to collect and image light across the electromagnetic spectrum

LEARNING OBJECTIVES & OUTCOMES:

 Understand the basics of the different types of optical telescope designs and
their pros and cons (reflectors and refractors)
 Be able to recognise / draw a basic optical telescope design
 Understand that large telescopes are better due to increased light gathering
power and resolving power (and what limits these properties)
 Understand the definitions of refraction, reflection, dispersion, seeing,
resolving power
 Know about adaptations to telescopes to optimise resolution (e.g. active and
adaptive optics)
 Be able to compare radio telescopes to optical telescopes (advantages +
disadvantages)
 Know about the SKA and MeerKAT
 Know about space telescopes (and be able to list a few)
 Be able to list a few well-known telescopes by name
 Telescopes
A telescope is a “light bucket” whose primary function is to capture as many photons as possible
from a given region of the sky and concentrate them into a focused beam for analysis

The bigger the collecting area, the more light can be collected and the fainter the objects which can
be seen/ recorded.

Aperture
 The word ‘aperture’ means ‘opening’ and describes the light collecting area of a telescope - in
other words the size of the primary mirror or lens. We call the size of a telescope by the size of
its aperture
 We use the aperture size to describe telescopes. e.g. 1 m telescope (lens or mirror is 1m in
diameter), 20-inch telescope (lens/mirror is 20” in diameter)

Refraction
 Refraction is the change in direction of propagation of a wave due to a change in the medium
through which the wave is moving
 Depending on the frequency of the wave, it will move at a different speed in media with
different refractive indexes.
 Refraction results in the ‘bending’ of light as it passes from one medium to another (e.g. air to
glass, water to air

You will likely have noticed that a straw in a glass of water or cooldrink appears to be bent when you
look down through the liquid at it. This is due to refraction of the light as it reaches the surface of the
water and moves into the air. It therefore looks as though the light is coming from a different position
under the surface and the straw looks bent.
Optical telescope
 Depending on the different wavelength/frequency of light to be collected, the telescope design
will differ
 Optical telescopes collect light in the visible range of the EM spectrum.
 There are 2 main types of optical telescopes: refractors and reflectors.
o Refractors
 Use lenses to focus incoming light

Refracting lens
- Lenses are used to refract incoming light (with parallel wavefronts) to a point
called the Focus.
- The lenses need to be ground/shaped to high precision so that all the EM
radiation passing through can be focussed correctly.

- focal length = Distance from lens to focus (can be quite long in some cases)
- In the basic refractor design, the lens is at the top of the telescope and light
passes through it and is focussed towards the bottom of the telescope.

The Yerkes telescope was built in 1897 and only closed in

2018! It is 63 feet long (21 m long!) but will be called a 1m
telescope since that is the diameter of its primary lens.
o Reflectors
 Use mirrors to focus incoming light
Mirrors
- The light-collecting mirror is called the primary mirror and its focus is called
prime focus

- Images made with reflector telescopes are inverted (turned upside down) due
to the reflection on the mirror.
Refractors Reflectors
Use lenses to focus incoming light Use mirrors to focus incoming light
 Images & Detectors
 Telescopes are the light buckets which collect and focus the light BUT the detectors we attach to
them allow us to do the scientific analysis
 Detectors can be placed at different points along the light path at the telescope:

 We can use the same telescope for a very long time (many years) and just change or upgrade the
detectors

Making images
 Originally, telescopes recorded images on photographic plates…,
then film
 Photographic plates were pieces of glass on which photographic
emulsion (chemicals) would be place which would be exposed to
the light from an observation.
 They needed to be treated carefully, removed from the telescope
in the dark, and developed carefully using special chemicals to
see the image.
 They had to be analysed by hand/eye.
 As technology improved photographic film could be used, but
analysis had to be done by eye.
 These days we have cameras with special detectors called CCDs
which make digital images.
 On the CCDs are light sensitive cells called pixels.
 They work by the photoelectric effect - as photons hit the pixels,
charge (electrons) builds up on the pixels and is then read out and Above you can see an astronomer
analysing a photographic film on
recorded.
which the image is shown (black on
 Readout can be done in seconds or minutes depending on the
white). She is using a special
size and speed of the CCD. magnifying glass to see objects in the
 No complicated development process involving chemicals is image more clearly
needed!
CCDs
The numbers above represent the number of photons striking the CCD detector. On the right, the
image is bright where lots of photons strike and dark where fewer photons land.

CCDs vs. Photographic plates

CCD Photographic plate
VERY efficient: 90% of photons falling on CCD Inefficient: <5% of photons recorded on film
are recorded
Provide good representation of image in digital Heavy and bulky to transport - analysis has to
format which can be stored on a computer be done manually
/other hardware, and images are easily
transportable (email!) and analysed easily on
computers
can image an object 10-20 times fainter on the
same telescope in the same amount of time!
Image processing
 Image processing handled by computer programmes:
 noise reduction / subtraction
 correction for known instrumental defects

The images above show how software can be used to improve images of the star cluster R136

Wide-angle Views
 Big reflectors can focus well at the centre of their FoV, but image quality degrades towards the
edges

 At the edges you can see that the round stars are smeared out. This is called ‘coma’ (stars look
like comets!)
 Distortions at the edges of wide-field images can be improved by building a telescope with a
correcting place at the aperture and using a curved image surface.
 This is called a Schmidt design. It is also possible to build a Schmidt-Cassegrain design to make
the telescope more compact.

Photometry
Q: What science can you do with an image?

 To get an idea of the energy output of an object, we need to measure the amount of light
emitted (by making an image of the object).
 Some objects change in brightness over time - so measuring the light output, i.e. making
multiple images of the object at different time intervals, can tell us how much they vary over
time.
 To measure the amount of light coming from an object at our distance from it, we can sum up all
the light in an area around the object on the image. e.g. see the red circle around the left-hand
star in the image above.
 Measuring the apparent brightness of objects is called photometry
 Spectroscopy
 Spectrographs can be mounted on the telescope (e.g. SALT) or in a separate (coudé) room
 Spectra can be studied in real time but are usually recorded by CCD

Q: What science can you do with a spectrum?

 Recall, using a spectrum we can measure temperature, recession velocity, density, magnetic
fields, rotation speed, turbulence.