3: Telescopes
- Page ID
- 30466
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Chapter 3 focuses on telescopes, from their design to how their physical location affects their use. We will also explore the use of filters and how data are retrieved from images. Lastly, the chapter looks at how the brightness of astronomical objects is determined.
- 3.0: Telescope Introduction
- Investigating light is no easy task, as telescopes on the ground all suffer from the same predicament: Earth’s atmosphere degrades the images they produce. It makes objects appear blurrier and dimmer than they actually are. Furthermore, most kinds of light are not detectable from the surface of Earth at all; they are absorbed by our atmosphere before ever reaching the ground.
- 3.1: Designing Telescopes Across the Spectrum
- There are many objects in space that we cannot see despite the fact that they emit visible light. They are just too faint. We deal with the limitations of our eyes by building telescopes and light detectors. These tools, like many of the tools we build, help us expand our physical capabilities beyond what is possible by our bodies alone. In this section, we look at telescopes, our “eyes on the sky.” Our purpose is to illustrate how different telescopes are used, as well as some of the physical l