Refracting telescope
- how is a telescope used
- how is a telescope used in everyday life
- how is a telescope used today
- how is a radio telescope used
10 uses of telescope.
How Do Telescopes Work?
The Short Answer:
Early telescopes focused light using pieces of curved, clear glass, called lenses. However, most telescopes today use curved mirrors to gather light from the night sky.
Types of telescopeThe shape of the mirror or lens in a telescope concentrates light. That light is what we see when we look into a telescope.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
A telescope is a tool that astronomers use to see faraway objects.
Most telescopes, and all large telescopes, work by using curved mirrors to gather and focus light from the night sky.
The first telescopes focused light by using pieces of curved, clear glass, called lenses.
So why do we use mirrors today?
Who invented the telescope
Because mirrors are lighter, and they are easier than lenses to make perfectly smooth.
The mirrors or lenses in a telescope are called the “optics.” Really powerful telescopes can see very dim things and things that are really far away.
To do that, the optics—be they mirrors or lenses—have to be really big.
The bigger the mirrors or lenses, the more light the telescope can gather. Light is then concen
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