Telescopes in Astronomy

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Telescopes in Astronomy Sharla McNees University of Phoenix Astronomy SCI/151 Dr. Olade July 2, 2012 Telescopes in Astronomy Telescopes have changed the way people view the sky and are allowing scientist to find out more about other planets. This paper will cover how the telescope changed our view of the universe, designs of telescopes and about ground-based and space-based observatories. * How the telescope changed our view of the universe and our place in it * Telescopes opened our eyes to the universe by showing us that Earth is not the center of the universe. Telescopes also show the mountains and craters on the moon and telescopes have exposed characteristics and weather on the planets in our solar system and revealed new planets and asteroids. Telescopes were the first valid measurement of the speed of light (NASA, 2009). * NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, help provide evidence of other galaxies, all having billions of stars. Newer telescopes permit us to learn about objects in the universe by identifying the heat, radio waves or X-rays they emit. Telescopes help us discover planets around other stars. The hopes with some of the future telescopes are to answer the question that many ask, "Are we alone in the universe" (NASA, 2009). Earth has been the only planet that contains life, but scientists are eager to find other planets that are like Earth (NASA, 2009). * The major designs of telescopes * There are types of telescopes ranging from Refractor, Reflector and a Catadioptic. All can help with searching the night sky, but depending on what you want to see depends on the telescope you need to choose. A Refractor telescope uses a lens, a curved piece of glass, which bends the light to focus. The light from a distant star arrives as parallel light rays and telescope lens bends the light so the light can be magnified and been by the

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