subject: Interesting Sights From A Large Telescope Mirror [print this page] Interesting Sights From A Large Telescope Mirror
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.
