How does a telescope work?

Answer 1

The telescope has a large diameter concave main mirror with a hole at it's centre.This is known as a Cassegrain configuration. Light from the stars enters the telescope tube and is reflected from the main mirror back up the tube and is then reflected by a small secondary mirror back down through the hole in the main mirror to a focus point behind it.

An array of cameras and spectroscopes share the light by means of a beam splitter at the main focus. The cameras digitally process the images they recieive using charge couple devices known as CCD's or electronic eyes. The digital signals are labelled and sent to a microwave dish which transmit the images back to Earth.

The telescope is powered by solar cells and has a lens cap that automatically closes whenever the sun is a danger to the sensitive cameras.The telescope is remotely pointed and stabilised using gyroscopes and it is these moving parts that are prone to failure.

Despite early problems the Hubble telescope a shuttle space mission was sent to repair the telescope and fit an optical fix known a 'Costar'. The mirror had been ground with an error in the measurement system and ever since has been a fantastic success. It was given major overhaul earlier this year in one of the last shuttle missions and is to be replaced by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST)in the next decade.

Answer 2

To understand how a basic telescope makes faraway things look closer, think about why we can't see distant objects using only our eyes. First, the tiny opening at the front of the eye (the pupil) does not let in enough light to give many details of a distant object. Second, an object that's far away projects only a tiny picture onto the back of the eye.

A telescope improves our vision in two steps. First, the big end of the telescope gathers a lot of light from the object you're seeing. The lens in that end of the telescope focuses the light to make a small, bright image. Second, the small lens in the eyepiece magnifies that small image, spreading it over a bigger area in the back of your eye. That way, you see a bigger image, including the details.

Answer 3

The reflector telescope's mirror optics gather light from celestial objects and direct it to an array of cameras and spectrographs (Brittanica Concise Encyclopedia).

The Hubble Telescope works by the beams of light from other stars from all over the universe, hitting it and then the telescope saves it and then sends the pictures back to Earth.

Answer 4

it works because of the lances of it