General introduction to the history of the development of the different types of telescopes.

2. From the Greek:tele = 'far' and
skopein = 'to look or see';
teleskopos = 'far-seeing'

3. Hans Lippershey (1570 – 1619)
Hi There, I’m German telescope inventor Hans
Lippershey! In 1608 after some considerable
messing about with optical lenses in my
spectacle shop I submitted a patent
application for the ‘Dutch Perspective Glass’.
It could magnify objects by a factor of three.
I never did receive that patent but was amply
compensated with a ton of cash! Auf
Wiedersehen!

4. Galileo Galilei (1564 – 1642)
Buon Giorno! In 1609 I had heard about
Hans Lippershey’s telescope design and
decided to build my own. It was great!
(a magnification of x33!). It was so
great in fact that in 1610 I used it to
discover three moons orbiting the
planet Jupiter! This supported Nicolaus
Copernicus’ idea that the Earth was not
the centre of the universe.
Unfortunately this got me into trouble
with the Catholic Church (who
eventually had me put under house
arrest for Heresy!). Still, never mind!
Ciao!

5. Refracting Telescope
A refracting telescope (or spyglass)
uses the principle of an objective
lens to gather light and an eyepiece
lens to focus it. The lenses refract
(bend) the light. The greater the
quality of the lens, the better the
image.

6. Sir Isaac Newton (1643 – 1727)
Somewhat typically, I, Sir
Isaac Newton have improved
upon the original refracting
telescope design with my new
reflecting telescope (built by
me in 1670). This uses a big
mirror instead of a lens and is
much less likely to suffer
distortion effects.

7. William Herschel (1738 – 1822)
Hi! I’m William Herschel. In
1781 I discovered The Planet
Uranus and in 1789 I used
this massive 12m telescope
to discover a new moon of
the planet Saturn!

8. William Parsons (1800 – 1867)
Hi There! William Parsons, 3rd Earl
of Rosse here. In 1845 I built the
world’s biggest telescope (it had a
72” mirror!). I used this telescope
to show the spiral nature of
galaxies, in fact I discovered the
Whirlpool Galaxy!

9. Reflecting Telescope
A reflecting telescope uses a
system of curved mirrors to
collect light. An eyepiece is used
to focus the light for viewing.
Nearly all large telescopes are
reflectors. They are less likely to
distort the images and are easier
to make on a large scale.

10. Grote Reber (1911 – 2002)
Gee Whiz! Hi there everyone! It’s me!
Grote Reber, the father of Radio
Astronomy! Following on from Karl
Jansky’s 1933 discovery of radio waves
emanating from the centre of the galaxy
I built a radio telescope in my back
garden in 1937! This enabled me to
complete a radio frequency sky map in
1941! This in turn lead to an explosion in
radio astronomy at the end of the
Second World War.

11. Jodrell Bank (1966 - ) Hi there! I’m the Lovell
telescope at Jodrell Bank
in the North West of
England. I’m the biggest
steerable radio telescope
in the world and am
personally responsible for
the discovery of Pulsars in
deep space!

12. Very Large Array (1980 - )
Hello! I’m part of the Very Large
Array radio telescope in New Mexico.
We started scanning the skies in
1980. Each dish is 25 meters across
and weighs 209 tonnes! These were
used to receive radio signals from the
Voyager 2 spacecraft as it flew past
the planet Neptune! Impressive!

13. Chandra X-Ray Telescope
Hi there, I’m the Chadra X-ray
telescope. This image is of me just
before I was carried into orbit by the
space shuttle. I need to be up there
because the Earth’s atmosphere
absorbs x-rays. One of my most
famous discoveries was a jet of x-rays
emanating from a Supermassive Black
Hole in the constellation of
Sagittarius.

14. Hubble Space Telescope (1990 - )
Hello, I’m the Hubble Space Telescope! I was
launched in 1990 as an orbiting optical telescope. I
have a 4m mirror which has allowed me to capture
some stunning images of deep space (like these
ones on the right). I still need periodic maintenance
as I was originally only designed to work for five
years!

15. Telescopes:Observing Space
A Telescope is a device which makes things visible to the
naked eye which we would not normally be able to see.
The Earth’s atmosphere absorbs almost all
electromagnetic radiation (except light, ultraviolet and
radio waves). This limits the amount of information we
can collect from space.
We need to use satellites to collect data on the
wavelengths of the spectrum that are absorbed high in
the atmosphere. We can also use orbiting optical
telescopes to get clearer views of deep space. These
orbiting observatories have been used to discover gamma
ray bursts, pulsars, black holes and extra solar planets.