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Why are so many large optical telescopes located on mountaintops?
Wiki User
∙ 14y ago
The reason we locate optical telescopes in high places is because the earth's atmosphere distorts the light that passes through it. If we can get higher up, there will be less atmospheric distortion of the light from the objects we're observing. Additionally, there is usually less light pollution to affect the images, but relief from atmospheric distortion is the primary reason we go up.
Wiki User
∙ 14y ago
Wiki User
∙ 15y agoto get away from sea mist, clouds, and get into the dryer air. Also to get away from light pollution from towns and city (which tend to be low altitude).
Wiki User
∙ 9y agoThey need clear air, above the weather, and mountain tops provide this.
Wiki User
∙ 8y agoSimply because the higher you go on Earth, the less atmosphere there is, therefore the clearer the sky is.
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What and where are the largest optical telescopes in use today?
Ccd's and in large telescopes
Why do single dish radio telescopes have poor resolving power compared to optical telescopes of the same diameter?
Radio telescopes are generally much larger than optical telescopes for two reasons: First, the amount of radio radiation reaching Earth from space is tiny compared with optical wavelengths, so a large collecting area is essential. Second, the long wavelengths of radio waves mean that diffraction severely limits the resolution unless large instruments are used.
Can you study visible light using a radio telescope explain your answer?
Yes, because it must be very large in order to attain the resolution of optical telescopes.
Why are most large telescopes reflecting telescopes?
They are refracting telescopes(:Large refracting telescopes are no longer built because there were too many problems with them. There was color distortion, light pollution, and when the object hits the focal point it turns upside down. Then you don't see the object for what it really is, you see it upside down and weird-ed out. They are to complicated and scientists believed they should just stick with the simple, small, original refracting telescopes!!!!-Meghan Betts (8th grader)
Are telescopes dangerous?
Telescopes are not dangerous in normal operation. A large telescope might hurt you if it fell on you.
What and where are the largest optical telescopes in use today?
Ccd's and in large telescopes
What are the bulidings called where optical telescopes are found?
The word "Observatory" is used to refer to a dedicated building where large optical telescopes are housed. This usually includes a protective dome that can be opened or retracted to observe the stars.
Why do single dish radio telescopes have poor resolving power compared to optical telescopes of the same diameter?
Radio telescopes are generally much larger than optical telescopes for two reasons: First, the amount of radio radiation reaching Earth from space is tiny compared with optical wavelengths, so a large collecting area is essential. Second, the long wavelengths of radio waves mean that diffraction severely limits the resolution unless large instruments are used.
What instrument to look at the sun?
Solar telescopes are used by professional astronomers both on earth and on satellites. These instruments differ from other optical telescopes because they do not need to collect light and also must deal with the heat from the object they focus on. The telescopes are very large.
Can you study visible light using a radio telescope explain your answer?
Yes, because it must be very large in order to attain the resolution of optical telescopes.
Why are most large telescopes reflecting telescopes?
They are refracting telescopes(:Large refracting telescopes are no longer built because there were too many problems with them. There was color distortion, light pollution, and when the object hits the focal point it turns upside down. Then you don't see the object for what it really is, you see it upside down and weird-ed out. They are to complicated and scientists believed they should just stick with the simple, small, original refracting telescopes!!!!-Meghan Betts (8th grader)
How is the VLA similar to an optical telescope?
well,both telescopes let you look into the ground into the inner core and you see deep in he atmosphere which is space. Errr... The Very Large Array is an array of radio-telescopes, i.e. it detects radio emissions from stars and similar. An optical telescope as its name suggests, collects visible light. The similarity is that increasing the aperture increases the radiation-gathering power by a square-law. In an optical telescope this is achieved by a larger mirror (or lens but most large telescopes are reflecting.) The VLA uses a "synthetic aperture" to gain the advantages of increasing its gathering area without the cost and complexity of building a single, very large dish.
Why are radio telescopes typically built so large compared with optical telescopes?
Radio telescopes are much larger than optical telescopes because of wavelength. Earth's atmosphere has two major "windows" where it is transparent to photons: 300 nm - 800 nm: optical wavelength window (approximate) 30 mm - 30 m: radio wavelength window (approximate) Even the shortest-wavelengths used by radio telescopes at around 30 mm are still thousands of times longer than the longest wavelengths used by optical telescopes. The wavelength has 2 effects on the size of a telescope: * The angular resolution (in order to distinguish 2 nearby stars, FWHM) depends on the wavelength/aperture ratio. Radio-frequency photons require a wider aperture to focus than visible-light-frequency photons, so radio telescopes *must* be larger to get a reasonable resolution. * A telescope typically requires the collecting area to be aligned within 1/10 of the wavelength it is designed for. Because it is almost impossible to get all the parts of a sufficiently large telescope aligned to within 80 nm, radio telescopes *can* be built much larger.
Reflecting telescopes differ from refracting telescopes in having what?
Two large objective lenses.
Why big telescopes?
Large telescopes have improved resolution over small telescopes and as such can gather clearer images of objects further away.
Are telescopes dangerous?
Telescopes are not dangerous in normal operation. A large telescope might hurt you if it fell on you.
Why are large telescopes made?
to see uranus
