The first practical telescopes were made in 1608 by a Dutchman by the name of Hans Lippershey. Two other Dutchmen, Zacharias Janssen and Jacob Metius, claimed to make the discovery, and the three share credit for the marvelous invention.
In 1609, a scientist named Galileo Galilei heard of a device which would allow one to see things bigger than they were. After tinkering with it, he made a telescope that could magnify objects to thirty-three times their size. In 1610, Galileo used the improved telescope to see spots on the Sun, phases of Venus, four moons of Jupiter, and mountains and craters on the moon. He used these observations to support Copernicus’s theory that the Sun was the center of the Solar System.
The name telescope was coined in 1611 by Prince Frederico Cesi. It comes from the Greek word teleskopos, meaning far-seeing, and was first applied to the Galilean telescope.
In 1611, Kepler suggested an improvement to the telescope. If both lenses were convex, things would appear bigger, and the field of view would be greater. In 1655, an astronomer named Christiaan Huygens used a Keplerian telescope to discover Saturn’s largest moon, Titan. He later used the data from that telescope to prove that Saturn’s rings were made up of many chunks of dust and ice. 
As you can see, the early telescopes contributed a lot to astronomy. Today’s telescopes are huge. The Hubble Space Telescope, which is in orbit around the Earth, weighs twelve tons! But it all started with a Dutch glasses-maker.
Works Cited
DeVorkin, David H., and Robert W. Smith. Hubble: Imaging Space and Time. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, 2008. Print.
"The First Telescopes (Cosmology: Tools)." The First Telescopes (Cosmology: Tools). N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Feb. 2015.
"History of the Telescope." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 09 Feb. 2015.
"Online Etymology Dictionary." Online Etymology Dictionary. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Feb. 2015.
Image credit:
http://www.myschoolhouse.com/courses/O/1/36.asp 
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteIt was very interesting learning about the telescope. Did all the people who claimed to invent the telescope, did they ever meet each other?
ReplyDeleteDear Ava,
ReplyDeleteI like how you take something you like and wrote about it. Have yo seen one of these telescopes? Also, which planets have you seen?
Keep up the good blogging,
Eamon
Avalistic,
ReplyDeleteI found how telescopes had evolved from Hans Lippershey's original telescope to a Hubble Space Telescope. I had no idea that astronomers like Johannes Kepler and Galileo had anything to do with the evolution of the telescope. I was wondering, when two people claimed to invent the telescope, how did Hans Lippershey convince people that he was the actual inventor of the telescope?
I learned a lot from what you wrote about the invention and history of telescopes.
Dylan/DS55
Hi Avalistic,
ReplyDeleteThis is really cool. It was full of facts about how it was invented. All of these scientist and inventors improved of each others models and we still do that today. How do people today know that Hans Lippershey invented the first telescope?
-Advay K.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteHi Ava!
ReplyDeleteI really liked your blog! I learned a lot about the invention of the telescope. How are the telescopes made in 1608 different from the ones we have today? Also, you said Galileo's telescope could magnify things to 33x. How powerful are today's telescopes?
Nice job!
-Annika
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteHi Avalistic,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your blog. I learned so much about the telescope and how it was invented. I had no idea that Galileo's telescope could magnify up to 33 times. I found that very interesting. I was wondering how powerful is a telescope that a regular person can buy compared to the first?
Hey Avalistic. I liked that you said the telescope gave us observations that supported Heliocentrism. It was also very interesting how you talked about the improvements and magnification of the telescope, in chronological order. How can concave lenses affect the magnification? Was the telescope invented in an attempt to conclude any philosophies?
ReplyDelete-Tanner
Dear Avalistic,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your blog post! I learned a lot about how the telescope was invented. I was wondering if you think there will ever be another invention that allows us to see farther into space?
-Jane
Dear Avalistic,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your blog post. I never knew that one could make so many modifications to one thing to make it better. Did they make the telescope by accident? How was it made back then? Was the oldest version of a telescope helpful/accurate?
Lauren Mei
Dear Avalistic,
ReplyDeleteI really liked how you used pictures to show how a telescope works! I enjoyed reading it a lot! I was wondering If you think telescopes will continue to change in the future?
nice job!
-Emma
Dear Ava,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading this post. It was very detailed on how the telescope worked. What is your experience with telescopes? Do you think it has helped the world?
Elise
Avalistic,
ReplyDeleteI like your title "The Invention and Early History of the Telescope." It sounds very professional. I was wondering, are there other modern day telescopes other than in space?
-Ibrahim
Hi Ava,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your post because there was pictures to help me visual. I was wondering what made you come up with this idea?
Sincerely,
Ramya
Avalistic,
ReplyDeleteThis is a very sophisticated article! I love the complexity, and all the great information! I never knew that they where three people who came up with the invention! Do you own a telescope, or have you looked into one?
Great job!
-Lion
Avalistic,
ReplyDeleteThis is an extremely sophisticated and engaging post! I love the complexity, and all the juicy information! I thought Galileo was the creator of the telescope, so it was very interesting to learn he only contributed to the betterment of it! Have you ever looked into a telescope?
Best,
-Flexi