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History of telescopes
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Galileo studies the night sky
Galileo was the first person to use a telescope and study the night sky, He builds a refracting telescope and finds there are actually geographical features on the moon instead of it being a perfect flat orb. He discovers Jupiter and the moons that orbit Jupiter as well. So he figures out that the Earth isn't the center of everything because not everything revolves around the Earth. -
Isaac Newton
Isaac Newton made new telescopes using mirrors instead of lenses, it was the earliest known functional reflecting telescope. Newton also proved that white light is just all the colors of the spectrum combined. He used a prism for justification of his findings. -
William Herschel
William Herschel makes a new telescope by hand with shiny metal instead of mirrors or lenses. He observed the Milky Way and sees nebuli but doesn't know exactly what they are. He also discovers Uranus and its moons including Oberon, and Titania. With his sister Caroline he cataloged over 2,500 celestial bodies in space. -
George Hale
George Ellery Hale was an American solar astronomer, best known for his discovery of magnetic fields in sunspots, and as the leader or key figure in the planning or construction of several world-leading telescopes including the Mount Wilson Observatory. -
Mount Wilson Observatory
Mount Wilson, founded in 1904, has steadier air around it which makes it ideal for astronomy. The observatory was founded by George Hale. It contains the Hooker telescope which from 1917 to 1949 and was used by Edwin Hubble -
Edwin Hubble studies the night sky
Edwin Hubble worked at the Mount Wilson Obervatory, and ended up being one of the most famous astronomers of all time. He proved that other galaxies existed outside the Milky Way. Hubble identified a Cepheid variable star, the one kind of star that can be used to measure distance in a galaxy. With this imformation he identified the distance from Earth to the Andromeda Nebula, now named the Andromeda Galaxy. -
Penzias and Wilson
The discovery of Cosmic Background Radiation was by Penzias and Wilson. The discovery was an accident by these to American radio astronomers. The discovery was important evidence for the Big Bang Theory and an early hot universe. In 1978 they were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics for their discovery. -
Hubble Space Telescope
A space telescope that was launched into low earth orbit in 1990. It uses mirrors, and the way it is positioned in Earth's orbit allows it to take high resolution and high quality pictures of deep space. It is named after the famous astronomer Edwin Hubble. PIctures that the Hubble has taken have allowed insight on the speed of the universe's expansion. The Hubble is the only telescope designed to be repaired and reserviced by astronauts in space. -
WMAP
The Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe, originally known as the Microwave Anisotropy Probe was a spacecraft operating from 2001 to 2010 which measured differences across the sky in the temperature of cosmic microwave background. Headed by Professor Charles Bennett. -
Kepler telescope
The Kepler telecope was launched into space to find Earth-like planets around other stars. It cost 550 million United States Dollars.
