Table of Contents
- 1 Why does the Hubble Space Telescope use mirrors instead of lenses?
- 2 What is the benefit of using a Hubble telescope over a reflecting telescope?
- 3 What is used in a mirror reflecting telescope to solve both issues?
- 4 What kind of lens does the Hubble telescope have?
- 5 What wavelengths does the Hubble Space Telescope detect?
- 6 Why most professional telescopes are reflectors rather than refractors?
- 7 How do refracting telescopes work?
- 8 How does the size of a telescope mirror affect its sensitivity?
- 9 What are some examples of reflecting telescope designs?
Why does the Hubble Space Telescope use mirrors instead of lenses?
The first telescopes focused light by using pieces of curved, clear glass, called lenses. So why do we use mirrors today? Because mirrors are lighter, and they are easier than lenses to make perfectly smooth.
What is the benefit of using a Hubble telescope over a reflecting telescope?
The Hubble telescope provides four key advantages over most other optical astronomical facilities: unprecedented angular resolution over a large field, spectral coverage from the near infrared to the far ultraviolet, an extremely dark sky, and highly stable images that enable precision photometry.
What type of waves or light does the Hubble Space Telescope use to look deep into space?
Launching into Earth orbit 25 April 1990, The Hubble Space Telescope has been observing the distant Universe for over 30 years. Designed to examine ultraviolet, visible, and infrared light waves, the solar-powered space telescope collects about 40,000 times more light than the human eye.
What is used in a mirror reflecting telescope to solve both issues?
To avoid this problem most reflecting telescopes use parabolic shaped mirrors, a shape that can focus all the light to a common focus.
What kind of lens does the Hubble telescope have?
Hubble features a 2.4 m (7 ft 10 in) mirror, and its five main instruments observe in the ultraviolet, visible, and near-infrared regions of the electromagnetic spectrum….Hubble Space Telescope.
| Spacecraft properties | |
|---|---|
| Type | Ritchey–Chrétien reflector |
| Diameter | 2.4 m (7 ft 10 in) |
| Focal length | 57.6 m (189 ft) |
| Focal ratio | f/24 |
What is the major advantage of an orbiting telescope?
Space telescopes have the advantage of being above the blurring effects of the Earth’s atmosphere. In addition, there are many wavelengths from the electromagnetic spectrum that do not reach Earth because they are absorbed or reflected by the Earth’s atmosphere.
What wavelengths does the Hubble Space Telescope detect?
Hubble’s optics are designed to view ultraviolet light, visible light, and near-infrared light, with sensitivities ranging from approximately 100 nanometers to 1.8 microns in wavelength. It can do no better with its current instruments, which were installed during the final servicing mission back in 2009.
Why most professional telescopes are reflectors rather than refractors?
The main reason that most professional research telescopes are reflectors is that: Large mirrors are easier to build than large lenses. A major advantage of a Newtonian reflector over a refractor is: The eliminiation of chromatic aberration.
Why are concave mirrors used in reflecting telescopes?
Reflectors use a concave mirror as its primary objective to focus the incoming light (same optical focusing effect as a convex lens). The mirror is coated on the surface of the glass, called a First Surface Mirror; the coating is usually molecules-thick coating of Aluminum or Silver.
How do refracting telescopes work?
Reflecting telescopes uses two mirrors, called the primary and secondary mirror, as well as a glass lens (eyepiece) in their lens system. Light rays gather through the aperture and travel to the back of the telescope where the primary mirror is located.
How does the size of a telescope mirror affect its sensitivity?
A telescope’s sensitivity, or how much detail it can see, is directly related to the size of the mirror area that collects light from the objects being observed. Webb’s primary mirror is 6.5 meters (21 feet 4 inches) across; a mirror this large has never before been launched into space.
What is the difference between a refractor and a mirror?
Reflectors work in a wider spectrum of light since certain wavelengths are absorbed when passing through glass elements like those found in a refractor or in a catadioptric telescope. In a lens the entire volume of material has to be free of imperfection and inhomogeneities, whereas in a mirror,…
What are some examples of reflecting telescope designs?
There are reflecting telescope designs that use modified mirror surfaces (such as the Ritchey–Chrétien telescope) or some form of correcting lens (such as catadioptric telescopes) that correct some of these aberrations. Main mirror assembled at Goddard Space Flight Center, May 2016.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAW_6ukFO9w