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Telescopes on Amazon

Celestron 21024 FirstScope Telescope
Amazon Price: $44.99
Customer Review: This is the first telescope I purchased. I was expecting a very easy to use telescope. First, the instructions were practically non -existent. Second, the strength of the telescope...
 
Celestron 21061 AstroMaster 70 AZ Refractor Telescope
Amazon Price: $97.94
Customer Review: the quality of the item is OK. I am looking for a suitable power telescope to look more details on the planets near us. This item can not do it. I used a camera with digital zoom t...
 

Turn Left at Orion: A Hundred Night Sky Objects to See in a Small Telescope--...
by Guy Consolmagno, Dan M. Davis
Amazon Price: $18.47
Customer Review: This was advertised as a book for older children to find night sky objects with telescope. This is much too complicated a book for this age group
 
Hubble: Imaging Space and Time
by David Devorkin, Robert Smith
Amazon Price: $31.50
Customer Review: This book is absolutely wonderful for anyone remotely interested in space exploration. Not only are the photos beautiful but the book itself is an informative and detailed guide to...
 
Sky & Telescope's Pocket Sky Atlas
by Roger W. Sinnott
Amazon Price: $13.57
Customer Review: A great sky atlas, perfectly detailed and colorful. I often use it rather that the large format atlas I also have.

Philippe Barraud
 

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About Telescopes

A telescope is simply a tool that enables people to see objects that are very far away - beyond the range of the normal eyesight. The word telescope is formed from two Greek words that combine to literally mean 'distant-seeing' (tele means 'far' and skopein means 'to see').

History credits Galileo with coining the term when he christened the instrument he refined and made popular - that could be used to observe distant planets - as the 'telescope'.
 


Going by the dictionary, though, the word telescope can be used to imply a wide variety of instruments that are designed to extend the range of our normal senses. However, all these "telescopes" have one common attribute. They collect electromagnetic radiation and manipulate it so as to be able to study and analyze in detail the source of the radiation and/or what the radiation (light, radio waves, etc.) has interacted with.

Most commonly, though, when speaking of telescopes it is usually in reference to the optical telescope. These shiny instruments, which range from hand held telescopes, to larger telescopes found in backyards and giant instruments located on top of mountains all collect visible light and use an array of mirrors and lenses to focus this light, permitting the viewer to clearly see and even photograph distant objects.

telescope tripod
Optical telescopes can further be categorized as reflecting and refracting telescopes. The differences between these two types of telescopes are explained in detail in other pages of this website.

Additionally on this website the history of the telescope is traced. And a an account is given of how Galileo came up with the first refined telescope that he then used to study the heavens.

There are several different accessories pertaining to telescopes such as telescope eyepieces, telescope mounts, telescope covers, etc. which are detailed on other pages. Modern camera telescopes and the famous Hubble space telescope are also discussed here.

If you want to scan the night skies, you may want to build your own home telescope. See our page on building your own. Or you can always purchase a telescope from our telescope store, Viewing the Universe.

About the Author:  Scott Harker is the publisher of several websites including: Sherlock Holmes Pastiches, Harvest The Sun | Making Biodiesel, Samurai Weapons, Naming the Baby, and the Spotlight on Science Blog.

Video About Telescopes, Galileo to SLOOH

http://slooh.com This video looks at Galileo's important work with the first telescope and includes an overview of the SLOOH robotic telescopes. Robotic telescopes are accessed and controlled using the Internet an incredible evolution of technology from Galileo's first telescopes.
More Space Related Videos

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News About Telescopes


New solar telescope could hurt UA, shut facility on Kitt Peak
Arizona Daily Star
These are perilous times for solar astronomy in Tucson, which has hosted the world's largest solar telescope - the iconic McMath-Pierce - on Kitt Peak since ...
The sun like it's never been seen before!KOLD-TV
New facility: 'Imax movie' of sunArizona Daily Star

all 28 news articles »


Many Wavelengths, Many Telescopes: How Observatories Reflect the Challenges of ...
University of Wisconsin-Madison
All telescopes work on the same basic principles, yet radio telescopes, for example, look very different, and are found in very different places from ...
High Resolution Mosaic of the MoonTransWorldNews (press release)

all 2 news articles »


Telegraph.co.uk

NASA Pluto mission only just beginning
NetworkWorld.com
But while the shots were the most detailed yet nabbed by NASA's telescopes, it is the satellite known as New Horizons that may ultimately steal the Pluto ...
New Hubble Maps of Pluto Show Surface ChangesHubbleSite
Pluto's White, Dark-Orange and Charcoal-Black Terrain Captured by NASA's HubblePR Newswire (press release)
New view of Pluto increases mysteryABC Online
New Scientist (blog) -Science Daily (press release) -Telegraph.co.uk
all 442 news articles »


ABC Online

Has the Hubble Space Telescope spied asteroid-on-asteroid collision debris?
Christian Science Monitor
X marks the (moving) spot: NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has captured what astronomers are suggesting is a debris tail that formed from a recent collision ...
Bizarre Asteroid Collision is One For The X-FilesDiscovery News
Suspected Asteroid Collision Leaves Trailing DebrisPR Newswire (press release)
Mystery Debris Pattern Streaking Through Space Could Be First Image of ...Popular Science

all 229 news articles »


MSU helped design solar telescopes
KULR-TV
By AP BOZEMAN - Solar physicists at Montana State University helped design four telescopes that are scheduled to be launched into space Tuesday from the ...

and more »


BBC News

New Space Telescopes Could Spot Dangerous Asteroids
Yahoo! News
One space rock-hunting telescope would sit in orbit directly between the sun and Earth. The other would follow the orbit of Venus closer to the sun. ...
Ground-based telescopes join the search for extraterrestrial lifeThe Guardian
In a First, Ground-Based Telescope Measures Alien Planet's AtmosphereDiscover Magazine (blog)
Down to Earth: Technique Lets Ground-Based Telescopes Parse Exoplanet AtmospheresScientific American
AFP -The Hindu -Space.com
all 63 news articles »

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