The Telescope - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

The Telescope

From geocentric to heliocentric and beyondBy brain cannon, 1st Period PLTW

Earth-centered universe

Sun-centered universeSlide2

Forward Thinking

“By taking our sense of sight far beyond the realm of our forebears' imagination, these wonderful instruments, the telescopes, open the way to a deeper and more perfect understanding of nature.”       —René Descartes, 1637Slide3

the original invention

Lenses were introduced to Europe around the 13th centuryBy 1300, the first eyeglasses were available in cities such as Venice and Florence (Mason, 2010)

Advances in lens making and polishing soon followedThe tools for making a telescope were available but, for reasons that are not clear, the invention of the telescope had to wait

The telescope first appeared in the Netherlands in 1608

The earliest known illustration of a telescope:

Giovanbattista

della

Porta included this sketch in a letter written in August 1609Slide4

Basic designSlide5

Telescope Timeline

1608

1609

Hans

Lippershey

applies for a patent for a refractor telescope

Galileo Galilei makes a refractor telescope and turns it to the skies

1668

Sir

Isaac Newton builds the first workable reflector telescope

1721John Hadley produces the first workable Gregorian telescope1789William Herschel builds a telescope with a giant reflector mirror that was 49 inches wide

1908

The 60 Inch Mount Wilson reflector is completed

1924

Edwin Hubble used the 100" Hooker telescope to

determine that

the size of the universe was

much larger than previously knownSlide6

Significant changes

Refracting telescopesLong focal length refractorsAerial telescopesReflecting telescopes

Achromatic refracting telescopesLarge reflecting telescopesRadio telescopes

Infrared telescopes

telescope constructed of two convex lenses

telescopes with focal lengths as long as 150 ft.objective was mounted on a swiveling ball-joint on top of a tall structureNewton's first compact reflecting telescope had a mirror diameter of 1.3 

inches

lens that would focus all colors to a single

point

process of depositing a layer of silver on glass telescope mirrorsdetect and collect data on radio waves from deep spaceuses infrared light to detect celestial bodies

(O'Rourke, 2009)Slide7

Impact on Civilization

Humans use to believe that the earth was the center of the universe

Using the telescope, Galileo proved that the earth was revolving around the sunSlide8

Impact on Civilization

Throughout its 400-year history, the telescope has changed our view of the universe and our view of ourselvesTelescopes showed that the universe was far larger than had been imagined — and our place in it far smaller than had been imagined

Telescopes allowed humans to view differences between planets and form the basis of our understanding of the solar systemThe invention of the telescope marked the beginning of the scientific revolution of the 18th century

These instruments helped us make the first valid measurement of the speed of lightTelescopes have also helped us understand gravity and other fundamental laws of the physical

world (NASA, n.d.)Slide9

References

Mason, B. (2010, October 2). How the Telescope Changed Our Minds | WIRED. Retrieved from http://www.wired.com/2008/10/how-the-telesco/NASA. (n.d.). NASA - Have Telescopes Changed Our View of the Universe? Retrieved from http://www.nasa.gov/centers/jpl/education/telescopes 20100405.html

O'Rourke, B. (2009, August 25). Four Hundred Years Ago, Galileo's Telescope Changed The World. Retrieved from http://www.rferl.org/content/Four_Hundred_Years_Ago_ alileos_Telescope_Changed_The_World/1807134.html