The History Of Telescopes

By Rebecca Miles

  • Galileo created the first telescope - it had a one-and-a-half-inch lens and was displayed in an ornate frame.

    Galileo's telescope had a one-and-a-half-inch lens and was displayed in an ornate frame.

  • Johannes Hevelius created a refracting telescope which was 150 feet long. It swayed with the slightest breeze.

  • Sir William Herschel discovered the planet Uranus in 1781. Eight years later he received funding and completed a 40-foot telescope. Due to its size and weight is was not very effective.

  • John William Draper produced the first photograph of the moon using the daguerreotype process.

  • Lord Rosse completed construction of his reflecting telescope in Ireland. With its six-foot diameter primary mirror it allowed Rosse to discover the first spiral nebula.

  • The 40-inch telescope at Yerkes Observatory was completed, it remains the largest ever reflecting telescope.

  • The Hooker 100-inch telescope was built at the Mount Wilson Observatory in California.

  • Clyde Tombough discovered Pluto with the 13-inch telescope at Lowell Observatory in Arizona.

  • The 200-inch Hale Telescope in California has made crucial discoveries about galaxies and quasars.

  • The Hubble Space Telescope entered Earth's orbit and began photographing the universe.

  • The twin-mirrored Large binocular Telescope was built in Arizona. It will deliver ten times shaper images than the Hubble telescope.

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