The Telescope
The first recorded and working telescope was made in 1608. This is relatively new technology, and has increased rapidly since then. The first telescope is credited to a man named Hans Lippershey, although there is some speculation about this. Hans Lippershey made a refracting telescope, one of the earlier kinds. A refracting telescope uses a lens as the objective to form the image. This was the first kind of practical telescope.
In 1609, Galileo came out with the next new kind of telescope. It was based off the one Lippershey had made, but had about 3x magnification. Galileo later went on to make a 30x one. This is sort of how science works, someone making an invention, and then someone else taking their idea and making it better. Johannes Kepler did just this, in 1611, when he made a telescope that used a convex lens, unlike Galileo’s concave one.
Into modern times, the Hubble telescope was launched in 1990. It has a 2.4 meter mirror, and can see in the near infrared, near ultraviolet, and visible spectrum. It is still in use today, capturing more and more images. The Hubble space telescope was named after Edwin Hubble.
The age old wanting is for knowledge. What’s out there? How far can we go into the universe? Curiosity has ebbed its way into how we think and perceive the world, and the telescope is helping us understand a few things. There is always more to be discovered, always more missions to send to space, and always more things to see.
Works Cited:
"Hubble Space Telescope." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 16 Feb. 2015. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubble_Space_Telescope>.
"History of the Telescope." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 16 Feb. 2015. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_telescope>.
"Telescope." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 16 Feb. 2015. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telescope>.
