A telescope is an instrument designed to look into faraway
places. The first ones were created as far back as the 11th
century by Arabian scientists. This era was known as the Golden
Age of Islam and the invention of the optical lens that later
lead to the development of the first telescope was one of numerous
inventions of many other ‘firsts’ by Arab or Muslim
Scientists. Large telescope mirrors only came about much later.
These reflectors were designed to reflect light in such a manner
as to reveal or highlight shadowed areas. Glass large telescope
mirrors (it was silver coated) were replaced by metal mirrors
in reflector telescopes only in the mid nineteenth century.
At the time it was considered a huge improvement in the quality
of the telescope.
Modern Telescopes
Large telescopes have been developed and have tremendously
improved over the last few decades.
The newest telescopes are only as good as the performance of
its reflectors. A reflector is designed to redirect light. Sunlight
or starlight is being absorbed and the redirected by the reflector.
The main objective for this redirection is to enable the viewer
to spot or observe areas that are shadowed or obscured. This
makes it ideal for deep space probing.
The further the object, the bigger the reflector. Huge reflectors
are currently found in observatories around the globe. To be
able to see what is happening in deep space areas, large telescope
mirrors have been designed and built into these reflectors.
These large telescope mirrors are specially crafted and technically
designed to reveal more details about everything out there.
Images observed from the large telescope mirrors are on many
occasions breathtaking. Because of reflector telescopes finer
details are revealed on the moon as well as distant planets.
The enormous amount of nebulas as well as clusters of stars
may become easier identifiable. For the amateur astronomer it
is relatively easy to build a reflector telescope with a large
telescope mirror from scratch. After a sightseeing tour into
space will have most amateurs go for bigger and better.
Where Are They Found?
The largest and most magnificent telescope that was put into
space was of course “The Hubble Telescope”. After
an initial flaw in one of its mirrors scientists occasionally
go into space to service Hubble. Because of Hubble’s ability
to reflect images of deep space a lot more clearly and accurately
it has enabled astrophysicists to uncover many breakthroughs.
