The potential advantages of using parabolic mirrors-reduction of spherical aberration and no chromatic aberration-led to many proposed designs and several attempts to build reflecting telescopes. The idea that the objective, or light-gathering element, could be a mirror instead of a lens was being investigated soon after the invention of the refracting telescope.
Galileo heard about the Dutch telescope in June 1609, built his own within a month, and greatly improved upon the design in the following year.
Their development is credited to three individuals: Hans Lippershey and Zacharias Janssen, who were spectacle makers in Middelburg, and Jacob Metius of Alkmaar. The earliest recorded working telescopes were the refracting telescopes that appeared in the Netherlands in 1608. Lets take a brief look at the history of telescopes and the early versions of them. When looking into anything, it is always important (and fun!) to study the history of it to understand where it came from (especially if you want to make one of your own!) then you can build upon that knowledge and make your own freaking awesome telescopes! If nothing else, impress your friends with your vast knowledge lol. In the Starry Messenger Galileo had used the term “perspicillum”. The word “telescope” (from the Greek τῆλε, tele “far” and σκοπεῖν, skopein “to look or see” τηλεσκόπος, teleskopos “far-seeing”) was coined in 1611 by the Greek mathematician Giovanni Demisiani for one of Galileo Galilei’s instruments presented at a banquet at the Accademia dei Lincei. The word telescope now refers to a wide range of instruments detecting different regions of the electromagnetic spectrum, and in some cases other types of detectors. In the 20th century many new types of telescopes were invented, including radio telescopes in the 1930s and infrared telescopes in the 1960s. Within a few decades, the reflecting telescope was invented, which used mirrors. They found use in terrestrial applications and astronomy. The first known practical telescopes were invented in the Netherlands at the beginning of the 17th century, using glass lenses. So lets go through a little bit of a brief history of telescopes, and then explore how you can create your own, fueled with some inspiration from all of these epic home made telescopes!! What Is A Telescope?Ī telescope is an instrument that aids in the observation of remote objects by collecting electromagnetic radiation (such as visible light). Nothing was an obstacle for the explorers of the past, they were able to fashion their own rudimentary telescopes with nothing but some ingenuity and the craving to explore the cosmos that they barely understood at the time.
I had always dreamed of having one of my own but they were always too expensive, these days that isn’t as much of an obstacle, as technology advances things become easier to access, but in the era of the internet and the growing wealth of knowledge combined with the many DIY resources available to us today – nothing should be an obstacle when you can make your own! Ever since I was a boy I was fascinated with space, the stars, and telescopes and the wonders that lay in our universe waiting to be discovered. Some are super massive modern marvels and others are just your regular every day telescope that we have become accustomed to. There are many types of telescopes in the world today.