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    2-Introduction To Telescopes

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    The document discusses the primary uses and capabilities of telescopes, specifically the Faulkes Telescopes. It notes that the size of a telescope's mirror is the most important factor, determining both its light-gathering ability and resolution. Bigger mirrors allow telescopes to see fainter, more distant objects and provide sharper, less blurred images. While the Faulkes Telescopes have 2-meter mirrors, they are housed in structures that are 8 meters tall. Their sensitivity and resolution is compared to other telescopes and the human eye. The document also explains how Earth's atmosphere limits ground-based telescopes and why locations above the atmosphere or on high mountains are preferable.

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    2-Introduction To Telescopes

    Uploaded by

    api-286079895
    199 views21 pages
    The document discusses the primary uses and capabilities of telescopes, specifically the Faulkes Telescopes. It notes that the size of a telescope's mirror is the most important factor, determining both its light-gathering ability and resolution. Bigger mirrors allow telescopes to see fainter, more distant objects and provide sharper, less blurred images. While the Faulkes Telescopes have 2-meter mirrors, they are housed in structures that are 8 meters tall. Their sensitivity and resolution is compared to other telescopes and the human eye. The document also explains how Earth's atmosphere limits ground-based telescopes and why locations above the atmosphere or on high mountains are preferable.

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    2-introduction to telescopes

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    The document discusses the primary uses and capabilities of telescopes, specifically the Faulkes Telescopes. It notes that the size of a telescope's mirror is the most important factor, determining both its light-gathering ability and resolution. Bigger mirrors allow telescopes to see fainter, more distant objects and provide sharper, less blurred images. While the Faulkes Telescopes have 2-meter mirrors, they are housed in structures that are 8 meters tall. Their sensitivity and resolution is compared to other telescopes and the human eye. The document also explains how Earth's atmosphere limits ground-based telescopes and why locations above the atmosphere or on high mountains are preferable.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pptx, pdf, or txt
    199 views21 pages

    2-Introduction To Telescopes

    Uploaded by

    api-286079895
    The document discusses the primary uses and capabilities of telescopes, specifically the Faulkes Telescopes. It notes that the size of a telescope's mirror is the most important factor, determining both its light-gathering ability and resolution. Bigger mirrors allow telescopes to see fainter, more distant objects and provide sharper, less blurred images. While the Faulkes Telescopes have 2-meter mirrors, they are housed in structures that are 8 meters tall. Their sensitivity and resolution is compared to other telescopes and the human eye. The document also explains how Earth's atmosphere limits ground-based telescopes and why locations above the atmosphere or on high mountains are preferable.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pptx, pdf, or txt
    of 21

    DISCOVERING TELESCOPES AND DEEP

    SKY OBJECTS: INTRODUCTION TO THE


    LCOGT TELESCOPES

    www.oursolarsiblings.co

    What are the primary uses of a


    telescope?
    The Faulkes Telescopes in
    the LCOGT network are
    about 8 metres tall, but we
    call them 2 metre
    telescopes.
    WHY?

    8m

    What are the primary uses of a


    Because their MIRRORS are 2 m in
    telescope?
    diameter
    2m

    Why is mirror size the most important?

    Click this link to run Movie on Sensitivity and Resolution

    Different mirror sizes.

    Australian Astronomical Telescope (3.9metres)

    Hubble Space Telescope (2.4 metres)

    High-end ($5000+) Amateur Telescope (0.3 metre


    Faulkes Telescopes (2 metres)
    Typical Binoculars (0.05 metres)
    Human Eye (0.002 metres)

    Note : Binoculars and the Human Eye use lens rather than mirrors, but
    follow the same physical principles with regards to Sensitivity and

    Sensitivity and mirror size.


    So the bigger the bucket, the more light
    we get.
    But HOW much more light?

    How much
    extra light we
    can collect.
    or
    How much
    dimmer we can
    see.

    Sensitivity and mirror size.


    2m
    3.9m
    Australian
    Astronomical
    Observatory

    Faulkes
    Area of one mirror
    Area of other mirror
    sensitivity

    = Ratio of

    Sensitivity and mirror size.


    2m
    3.9m
    Australian
    Astronomical
    Observatory

    Faulkes
    Area of one mirror
    Area of other mirror = Ratio of sensitivity
    So..
    Area of a
    circle.

    We can cancel the


    s, and use the
    Diameter instead
    of Radius

    THEREFORE: The AAO is 3.8 times as sensitive as the Faulkes

    Sensitivity vs mirror size.


    How much more sensitive are the Faulkes
    telescopes compared to the human eye?
    2m
    Faulkes

    0.002m

    = ?

    Human Eye

    Comparison of Sensitivity

    Image (a) is taken with a telescope half the size of


    Image (b)

    Resolution

    The larger the mirror, the better the


    resolution.
    Smaller telescopes.

    Resolution

    We can also compare the Resolution between


    telescopes

    2m

    3.9m
    Australian
    Astronomical
    Observatory

    Faulkes
    Diameter of one mirror
    Diameter of other mirror = Ratio of Resolution
    So..

    THEREFORE: The AAO has 1.95 times the resolution of the Faulkes

    Resolution vs mirror size.


    How much better resolution do we get
    with the Faulkes telescopes compared to
    the human eye?
    0.002m
    2m
    Faulkes

    = ?

    Human Eye

    Faulkes image and a Hubble


    image

    Hubble versus Faulkes


    Why such wildly different image quality?

    2.4m

    2m

    Approximate Resolution or both mirrors is about 0.08 Arcseconds.

    Hubbles Resolution
    is 0.08 arcseconds.

    Faulkes Resolution
    is really only 1-2 arcseconds....
    Worse than Jeffs Bucket!
    Why?

    Hubble versus Faulkes

    The atmosphere of the Earth


    blurs the image and decreases
    the resolution.

    Hubble is beyond the


    atmosphere and hence does not
    experience blurring.

    This is why telescopes are on


    mountains.

    FT North : Haleakala, Hawaii


    10,000 Feet or 3000 metres

    FT South : Siding Springs, NSW


    3,800 Feet or 1150 metres

    What else can we use a


    telescope for?
    4m Anglo-Australian
    Telescope.
    Siding Springs, NSW

    Magnification

    Theres no point magnifying something


    that you cannot see, hence sensitivity is
    more important.

    Magnification

    There is no point in magnifying something


    that is too blurry. You will not see any extra
    detail. Hence, both resolution and
    telescope location are more important.

    From the Ground....

    From Space....

    Summary
    The size of a telescopes mirror is the most important
    aspect of a telescope, so much so that telescopes are
    named by their mirror size.
    Telescopes are used primarily to see dim objects.
    They are also used to look at objects with higher
    resolution or less blurriness.
    The atmosphere affects our images quite
    dramatically, hence why we put telescopes on
    mountains or in space.
    While telescopes can magnify an image, it is of the

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