Astro 10 - HW: Telescopes

College of the Sequoias

Complete the assignment on a separate document.

There are two basic considerations in determine ‘how good’ a telescope is. How much light it gathers AND the
angular resolution it achieves.
Question 1: The amount of light a telescope collects is proportional to its area. The area of a circle is πr2 where
r is the radius. If we triple the diameter of telescope, how much brighter will objects appear?
Question 2: The angular resolution is proportional to the wavelength divided by the radius of the telescope
(∼ λr ). Do we want the angular resolution to be small or large?

For the following five questions, choose one of the following telescopes to study:
• Spitzer Space Telescope

• Keck Telescope

• Very Large Array

• Chandra Telescope

• Green Bank Telescope

When answering the questions, you must use (at least) two sources. Once you complete the assignment, men-
tion/cite the sources you used (Wikipedia is OK as one source).

Question 3: Write a paragraph describing some of the technical details of the telescope you chose. For example:
size of the telescope, where it is located, type of light it observes, can it see visible light?, etc.
Question 4: For the type of light it observes, does the location of the telescope make sense? (Obviously the
answer is yes here since it was built, but elaborate.)
Question 5: Write a short summary detailing the history of the telescope. When was it built, how long is it
supposed to be operational for, how much did it cost to build, is/was funding difficult to find for the telescope,
etc?

Question 6: Sketch a schematic/diagram of the telescope. Label a few important points/parts.

Question 7: Describe two important observations/discoveries the telescope has made. Feel free to include
images you find online, but you must still describe the observations and the importance.

Watch the short video about the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=mmguh7eksU . Then, answer the questions below.
Question 8: The video mentions the four primary goals of the JWST. Discuss the goal that you find the most
interesting.
Question 9: According to the video, what is at least one reason the JWST observes infrared wavelengths of light.

Question 10: What fact about JWST’s design and/or deployment do you find interesting that was mentioned in
the video?