Telescopes

Not exactly. A light telescope is a telescope that catches and shows visible light. The main light-gathering piece may either be a lens, in which case you would have a refracting telescope. Or - much more common with the larger telescopes - the main light-gathering piece is a parabolic mirror. In this case, it is a reflecting telescope. The largest refracting telescope is about 1.2 meters in diameter; all larger telescopes - currently up to about 8 meters - are parabolic mirrors.

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.

In 1635

Telescopes such as the Mauna Kea Observatory in Hawaii, the Very Large Telescope in Chile, and the Keck Observatory in Hawaii are placed on mountains for better visibility, reduced atmospheric interference, and clearer views of the night sky. Mountain locations are ideal for telescopes as they provide high altitudes, minimal light pollution, and stable atmospheric conditions for optimal astronomical observations.

A reflecting telescope only uses lenses in the eyepiece. Light is picked up and an image produced by using a concave parabolic mirror.

probably in his house. he was looking at the stars and figured out that when you hold two kinds of lenses in front of each other it magnifies it

Galileos lived all his life in tuscony in Italy.

The primary purpose of a Telescope is to magnify the image of the object being looked at directly. The primary purpose of a Periscope is to allow the viewer to look "around" an obstruction, such as a wall, tank armor, or the ocean's surface (submarine).

X-ray and gamma ray telescopes are used to give us "alternate" views of objects in the universe. It is extremely helpful to see all of the different wavelengths of electromagnetic energies give off by objects to better understand what they are and how to classify them for further study.

x-rays can also cause cancer whilst looking through them

also a lamborghini can see more into the future than xray and gamma ray telescopes

That would only be possible if we could travel faster than the speed of light...a lot faster...and then you would have to get farther out than light from earth has traveled in the last million years and then look toward earth..then, in theory, you could see the past.

Binocular telescopes, with interchangeable eyepieces, can have a focal length as long as you like. Generally, any binoculars that advertise based on the magnification will be useless, as the picture quality will be unbearable. Also, binoculars with more than 15x can be hard to hold. It is better to get a good pair of 8 or 10 x binoculars with a larger front element.

If you really want though, it does not get much more powerful than this:

http://www.overstock.com/Sports-Toys/Full-Size-Zoom-Binoculars/2866058/product.html

120x

The telescope was invented by Hans Lippershey, a Dutch eyeglass maker, around the early 17th century. Although the exact origin of the telescope is debated, Lippershey is often credited with its invention.

Yes. The top of the receiver is grooved to accept standard 'tip-off' mounts that are available from all major scope-mount manufacturers.