I can list six of the most famous telescopes in history:<\/p>\n
- Galileo\u2019s original refractor<\/li>\n
- Isaac Newton\u2019s first reflector<\/li>\n
- The Rosse \u2018Leviathan\u2019 at Birr Castle<\/li>\n
- The Mount Wilson 100-inch<\/li>\n
- The Palomar 200-inch<\/li>\n
- The Hubble Space Telescope<\/li>\n<\/ol>
- 7 telescopes that changed how we viewed the cosmos<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>
All are still in working order; although the first of them has not been turned skyward for a long time!<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s take a look at these famous telescopes in a bit more detail, shall we?<\/p>\n
6 famous historic telescopes<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Galileo\u2019s original refractor<\/strong><\/h3>\n
![\"""\"]( "\\"\"\"\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>A replica of the telescope through which Galileo spotted Jupiter\u2019s four largest moons. Credit: SSPL\/Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n We begin in the winter of 1609\/10 in Holland: a telescope had been built by a Middleburg spectacle-maker, Hans Lippershey.<\/p>\n
It was probably not the first but reports of earlier telescopes are vague and Lippershey\u2019s is the first about which we have definite information.<\/p>\n
News of the device reached Galileo Galilei<\/a> in Pisa and \u201csparing neither trouble nor expense\u201d the Italian scientist made a telescope of his own.<\/p>\n
Up to then, astronomical observations had been made solely with the naked eye, the limitations of which are obvious.<\/p>\n
But in a few weeks, early in 1610, Galileo made a series of spectacular discoveries that changed our outlook forever.<\/p>\n
He saw the craters of the Moon, the phases of Venus<\/a>, the \u201cmyriad stars\u201d of the Milky Way<\/a> and \u2013 perhaps most importantly of all \u2013 the four main satellites of Jupiter still known as the Galilean moons<\/a>.<\/p>\n
All these discoveries led to the realisation that the Sun, not Earth, is the centre of our planetary system.<\/p>\n
Galileo was accused of heresy and condemned by the Inquisition, and it was almost four centuries before the Vatican admitted that he had been right.<\/p>\n
Fancy a DIY project? Build your own Galilean telescope<\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n
Isaac Newton\u2019s reflecting telescope<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>Replicas of Galileo\u2019s and Newton\u2019s telescopes, side by side. Credit: SSPL\/Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n Next, the tiny reflector made by Isaac Newton<\/a> and demonstrated to the Royal Society in 1672.<\/p>\n
Galileo\u2019s telescope was, of course, a refractor and apart from various other defects it produced false colour \u2013 a lens does not refract all wavelengths equally.<\/p>\n
Newton could see no way around this problem and so he decided to collect the light with a curved mirror.<\/p>\n
It worked and his prototype telescope is still in the possession of the Royal Society, or so we think.<\/p>\n
Suggestions that it may be a later copy have been officially discounted.<\/p>\n
Lord Rosse\u2019s Leviathan\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>The Great Leviathan as it appears today, having been restored and refurbished. Now we come to 1845 and the 72-inch reflector made by the Earl of Rosse<\/a> \u2013 an Irish nobleman whose home was Birr Castle, near Athlone in Ireland.<\/p>\n
He was not a professional scientist but he was deeply interested in astronomy and began to make reflecting telescopes.<\/p>\n
He made a conventional 36-inch and then decided to attempt a telescope with twice this aperture.<\/p>\n
The mirror would be made of speculum metal, an alloy of copper and tin; glass mirrors of any real size were too difficult to make in the mid 19th Century.<\/p>\n
Lord Rosse built a forge, cast the mirror and made a mounting for it.<\/p>\n
![\"""\"]( "\\"\"\"\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>Sir Patrick Moore pictured at Birr Castle with the device used by the fourth Earle to measure the surface temperature of the Moon. Patrick visited Birr for the filming of an episode of The Sky at Night, broadcast in 1967. Credit: BBC \/ The Sky at Night<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n The resulting telescope was extraordinary: the huge wooden tube was mounted at the bottom between two stone walls.<\/p>\n
It could swing for a limited distance to either side of the meridian, covering a narrow strip of sky; you had to wait for Earth\u2019s rotation to bring your target into view.<\/p>\n
Almost as soon as Lord Rosse had completed the telescope he found that the \u2018starry nebulae\u2019 were spirals, shaped like Catherine wheels.<\/p>\n
We now know them to be galaxies<\/a> (following astronomy\u2019s Great Debate<\/a>) far beyond the confines of our Milky Way.<\/p>\n
After 1909 the telescope fell into disuse but it has now been restored and is fully operational once more.<\/p>\n
Until 1917, the \u2018Leviathan\u2019 remained the largest telescope in existence, although it had been overtaken in performance by great refractors such as the Meudon 33-inch in France and the Yerkes 40-inch in the US.<\/p>\n
Mount Wilson 100-inch reflector<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>A 1960s view of the 100-inch Hooker telescope at Mount Wilson. Credit: H. Armstrong Roberts\/ClassicStock\/Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n Now we move on to George Ellery Hale, a young American astronomer who wanted to build powerful reflectors and had the knack of persuading friendly millionaires to finance them.<\/p>\n
He set up the 100-inch reflector on Mount Wilson, California, which was in a class of its own for over 30 years.<\/p>\n
It could show faint objects and fine detail beyond the range of any other instrument.<\/p>\n
- 7 telescopes that changed how we viewed the cosmos<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>
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