Reflecting Telescopes

In 1680, Isaac Newton developed one of the first reflecting telescopes. There was a problem wit the images having a rainbow of color surrounding them. So instead of using a lens to focus light, Newton tried a small curved metal mirror in the back of the telescope. He also made a discovery in 1666 about the light of colors. Newton figured out that... 

Optical Features of Telescopes

The ability of a telescope to focus light is related to the optical features you use. Considerations to make when purchasing optical equipment Aperture, Magnification, Focal Length, Focal ratio, Wave Number, and Resolution. If you purchase low quality merchandise, you won’t be able to see what you are looking for as well. The most important... 

Looking at Globular Clusters

Globular clusters are defined as a dense grouping of thousands to millions of stars. They are comprised of young stars at millions of years old to older stars at billions of years old. The stars in these clusters are usually very tightly bound together. They are considered deep sky objects. They are easily found in the night sky in the hours before... 

Large Binocular Telescope

The LBT or Large Binocular Telescope is the world’s most powerful optical telescope. It will allow scientists to view planets and stars in our galaxy. It is housed in Arizona’s Mount Graham International Observatory. The telescope is housed in a sixteen story structure, and the top ten floors of the structure rotate. A fifty-five ton... 

How Telescopes Work

A telescope is a device that allows us to bring distant objects closer to us so that we can study them. A good example is the many planets, galaxies, and stars in outer space. Some range from $1 at the toy store to the $1.2 billion Hubble Telescope. There are two types of telescopes. Refractors use a glass lens. Reflectors use mirrors instead of... 

Historical Timeline for Telescopes

It seems all the technology for telescopes started back in 2560 BC. Artisans in ancient Egypt polished rocks, glass, and semi-precious stones to make eyes for the sarcophagi. What follows is some major points in the history of how telescopes came to be today. In 470 BC, Mozi, a Chinese philosopher, focused the sun’s rays by using concave mirrors. In... 

Galileo’s Telescope

Rumors of a Dutchman creating a device that would bring objects closer so you could see them more clearly reached Galileo in 1609. He started using the device after he refined it to a 10-power telescope and made some amazing discoveries with it. In 1610, he looked around Jupiter to find three satellites all in a straight line. When he looked back,... 

Finding the Telescope that Meets Your Needs

There are so many choices of telescopes out there. What do you buy and what do you really need? Here are a few things to keep in mind so you don’t buy a telescope that won’t meet what you need or want it to do. High power magnification is not always the primary consideration. You should have 40-60x magnification per 1 inch of aperture.... 

Factors to Consider When Purchasing a Telescope

When you go to purchase your first telescope, there are many things you should consider before buying it. Among them are portability, Maintenance, Storage Space, and Price. The goal is to get the most viewing ability for what you can afford. If you live in the city and long for some clear skies at night to view, you may have to move the telescope to... 

Eyepieces for Telescopes

Beginner astronomers need to be careful with these items as they tend to go way overboard. There are various designs and different lenses for different viewings. You need to figure out what you will be looking at and go from there. You may need two to three different eyepieces, but no more than that. Here is a simple guide to the different eyepieces... 

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