The telescope is one of the greatest inventions that has ever been built. The invention of the telescope allowed us to examine the universe in a new, innovative way and has been able to lead scientists into interesting journeys of understanding our universe better than before. Without telescopes there is no possible way of gathering all of the information that we now have about our universe. Neither would we have a way to look out to outer space in order to research and evaluate the universe without the telescope. Telescopes showed us that the universe was far larger than anyone thought. Telescopes are astronomers leading instrument for studying distant objects and allowing them to see things that otherwise would be too far for the naked eye alone. In this paper I will be discussing the science of the telescope and will be explaining the elements that are related.
There are a lot of telescopes of various sizes that are used to allow us to progress our education and our knowledge on the universe. However, there isn’t a telescope that is as immense and as depended upon as the Hubble Space Telescope. During April of 1990, the Hubble Telescope was sent out on a mission to orbit around the Earth. Since this mission, the Hubble Telescope has been responsible for providing us with a lot of information as well as breakthroughs such as the Hubble Ultra Deep Field, the planets in our solar system, and the age of our universe. Sometime around 2003 and 2004, the scientists made note that the Hubble Telescope displayed nothing but blackness in two parts of our universe. It was risky to allow the telescope to continue observing those two areas because of the risk of valuable time being wasted if there was nothing to be observed. Even though it was a risk, it ultimately provided information that was valuable and incredible. This made us even more interested in looking farther into the universe then we already had. We have only seen a small glimpse of our universe out of about 10,000 other galaxies that are present in our universe today (Nunes, 2012).
There are two major designs of telescopes; these are called refracting telescopes and reflecting telescopes. The first type of telescope ever invented was the Refracting telescope. These telescopes work just like an eye. However, there are glass lenses that are used to focus light. These telescopes do have a few weaknesses. One of those weaknesses is that the glass used for the lenses must be completely and perfectly clear in order for the light to pass through the telescope. The second weakness to this telescope is that there is a large glass lens that is very heavy and has to be at the top of the Refracting telescope, which makes it hard to use and stabilize (Bennett, Donahue, Schneider, & Voit, 2010).
The Reflecting telescope uses more than two mirrors in order to focus the light on one specific place that is being observed. The primary mirror gathers the light that is reflected on to the secondary mirror, which then directs that light onto the place it Is needed. The majority of the scientific telescopes currently being used for research are reflective telescopes(Bennett, Donahue, Schneider, & Voit, 2010). There are advantages to using reflective telescopes rather than refractive telescopes. One advantage being that these telescopes use mirrors instead of glass lenses. Unlike the glass lenses, the mirrors do not have to be perfect because the light is going to bounce off of one mirror onto the next. A second advantage is that the reflecting telescopes primary mirror is at the bottom of the telescope which makes it easier to balance than the refractive telescopes.
Although the ground based telescopes have a lot more advantages our Earth’s atmosphere also presents some challenges to ground based telescopes. This contributes to making them less desirable for use in observing the universe. Some of these challenges include daylight, bad weather, and light pollution. There are some places on the ground that are suitable for ground based telescopes, but they must be areas with very low populations in order to avoid man made light. Areas with drier climates that are also located at high altitudes work extremely well for ground based telescopes.
Ground based telescopes are best placed on top of tall mountains and at high altitudes, although these telescopes can also be used at low elevations as well if they are designed to detect radio waves. Areas with dark, clear skies as well as high, dry, and stable air are what astronomers look for. Clear skies are essential because when it is cloudy astronomers are unable to observe many things they are able to study when the skies are clear. Some of the best sites in the world are clear about 70 percent of the time. Areas with dark skies, absent any light pollution, are very important as well, when you are away from city lights, there is so much more the naked eye can see compared to in a city with lights everywhere. High and dry refers to choosing a higher elevation because water vapor in the earth’s atmosphere absorbs the infrared radiation. Therefore, when using an infrared telescope, it is best to place it at a high altitude. Since Light rays are distorted when they pass through turbulent air, and this causes the image seen through the telescope to be distorted and blurred, astronomers seem to choose most often to place these telescopes on costal mountain ranges.
Telescopes can be built on Earth and then launched into orbit. They can be sent to orbit around the Earth or sent to orbit around the moon. There are many reasons astronomers choose to put telescopes in outer space to orbit around both the Earth and the moon. The primary reason is to avoid problems that are caused by the Earth’s atmosphere that I have discussed previously. There are other advantages to putting telescopes such as the Hubble Telescope into orbit. In addition to avoiding atmospheric disturbances, it also places the telescope at least one step closer to every object in space that we want to explore and observe. Building a telescope and sending it to space is a beneficial tool in our attempts to learn more about what’s out there. The moon would be a great spot to have a telescope built. Unfortunately, astronauts are unable to transport all of the required components up to the moon in order to build the telescope.
Telescopes in space are also able to detect wave lengths that ground based telescopes cannot. Telescopes that are in orbit or on the moon are more difficult to maintain than ground-based telescopes because the only way to service them is by an astronaut who is trained. Since they cannot reach them very often in order to preform necessary maintenance, the telescopes have longer periods in which they are not operational. This can be a major problem with telescopes in space or on the moon. The ground based telescopes need to be away from light pollution and disturbances caused by earth’s atmosphere to function but they are much easier to get to and to repair and work on than the ones in space.
Telescopes can be found in different sizes and shapes. They play a vital role in our education and knowledge about our universe. As each year passes, our technology increases and evolves allowing our knowledge to grow. With more technology and resources our telescopes continue to become stronger, which in turn gives us a better advantage in learning what is out there yet to be discovered in our universe.