Stars and Telescopes: Telescopes in Astronomy

Stars and Telescopes:  Telescopes in Astronomy

University of Phoenix

SCI 151

Professor Kjornrattanawanich

A History of the Telescope

For many years, telescopes have been an important part of observing celestial bodies. They have helped change our understanding of what happens beyond the Earth. New developments have been discovered based on measuring wavelengths that celestial bodies give off, paving the way for different telescopes to be created for such purposes. In this essay, we will touch base on the history of the telescope, their development, and the fundamental purpose of telescopes to view our Universe.

        Telescopes were an essential instrument in the 17th century in revealing unsuspected phenomena in the skies. There was controversy between traditional astronomy (geocentric) and those who leaned towards Copernicus’s heliocentric system. With the use of the telescope, these men were given the opportunity to peer upon things that many others have never seen before, increasing mankind’s thirst to know more about what lie in the heavens above them.

People like to assume that the telescope was created by scientists but, in fact, it was created by Craftsmen in line with antiquity. It was at the end of the 13th century that the concave and convex objects became popular. Galileo was one of the first to use a refracting telescope to observe stars, planets, and moons around 1609. He then adopted the Greek term ‘tele’ for far and ‘skopein’ for as look.

With his observations obtained by use of the ‘teleskopein’, he was able to prove that the heliocentric model of the solar system was actually correct due to Venus having similar phases to our Moon. These observations completely blew Ptolemy’s model out of the water and paved for the way for more open observation of the night sky.

Telescopes:  Design and How They Work

The most common of telescopes are Optical designed ones. They are used to observe distant objects that are visible on the electromagnetic spectrum AKA visible light. Because visible light can easily be observed from Earth, most of these types of telescopes are ground based.

Telescopes are classified by the type of wavelengths of light it can detect. Objects in the X-Ray spectrum would, of course, be visible with use of a X-Ray telescope. Due to how Gamma Rays, X-Rays, and Ultraviolet light is ‘blocking up’ our atmosphere, there are no X-Ray telescopes that are ground based. Shorter wavelengths and light from distant objects can be detected by a X-Ray telescope.

        Another type of common telescope are radio telescopes. These telescopes work by receiving radio wavelengths from the Universe VIA very large, open dishes. Because the atmosphere does not block radio based wavelengths, scientists do not need to establish it out in Space.