Telescopes in History E N C Y C LO P E D IA O F A S T R O N O M Y AN D A S T R O P H Y S I C S

Kepler himself does not seem to have actually built such

Telescopes in History an instrument. This seems to have been left to an enemy of
The precise origins of the optical telescope are hidden Galileo, the German Jesuit observer, Christopher SCHEINER
in the depths of time. In the thirteenth century Roger (1575–1650), who used his improved version to discover
Bacon claimed to have devised a combination of lenses faculae on the Sun.
which enabled him to see distant objects as if they As the power of refracting telescopes increased, a
were near. Others who have an unsubstantiated claim series of fundamental discoveries were made. For exam-
to have invented the telescope in the sixteenth century ple, by learning to grind lenses with exceptional accuracy
include an Englishman, Leonard DIGGES, and an Italian, and developing an improved eyepiece, Christiaan HUYGENS
Giovanni Batista Porta, whose spyglass was manufactured (1629–95) was able to construct instruments which enabled
in Holland for military purposes. him to discover Saturn’s ring system and its large moon,
However, a Dutch spectacle-maker from Middleburg, Titan.
Hans LIPPERHEY, is usually credited with making the first However, refractors had two main disadvantages.
true refracting telescope in 1608. The new instrument was The tendency for the object glass (the main lens) to
soon being used by the English mathematician Thomas focus different wavelengths of light at different distances
HARRIOT and by Simon MARIUS in Germany to study the caused them to produce rings of false color around stars
night sky. But it was GALILEO GALILEI, then Professor of and planets (CHROMATIC ABERRATION). This effect could be
Mathematics at the University of Padua in Italy, who reduced by building telescopes of extremely long focal
was the first to construct a telescope for systematic length, but this, in turn, made them cumbersome and
astronomical observations. unwieldy.
The news of the Flemish invention reached Galileo The largest classical refractor, which was used by
early in 1609. After a few trials, ‘sparing neither labor Johannes HEVELIUS (1611–87), was 47 m (155 ft) long, and
nor expense’, he succeeded in arranging two lenses, one had to be set in place with a hoist. Giovanni Domenico
convex and one concave, inside a tube, so that they would CASSINI (1625–1712) later used a huge refracting telescope at
magnify an object by a factor of three. This rapidly evolved the newly built Paris Observatory—described by Molière
into a more powerful instrument capable of magnifying as ‘an eye-glass to frighten people out of their wits’—to
objects 30 times (see GALILEAN TELESCOPE). discover the gap in the rings which is named after him. His
With his improved telescope, Galileo was able to turn tubeless instrument comprised a lens which was placed on
his attention to the heavens. His startling discoveries the balcony of the observatory and pointed more or less
were described in the book, Sidereus Nuncius (The Sidereal in the intended direction, while the observer stood 27 m
Messenger), which was published in March 1610. In it he (89 ft) below in the courtyard, trying to direct the image
wrote: through a magnifying glass.
In 1671, the same year that G D Cassini moved to the
(I have seen) stars in myriads, which have never Paris Observatory, Isaac NEWTON presented a revolutionary
been seen before, and which surpass the old, new telescope to the Royal Society in London. Believing
previously known, stars in number more than that it would never be possible to make achromatic lenses
ten times. But that which will excite the greatest for refracting telescopes, he designed and built the first
astonishment by far . . . is this, namely, that I practical reflecting telescope. Although its dimensions
have discovered four planets, neither known were modest—the metal mirror was only 1 in (2.5 cm) in
nor observed by any one of the astronomers diameter, and it was just over 6 in (15 cm) in length—
before my time. Newton remarked that it would ‘discover as much as
any three or four foot tube’ and he forecast that similar
This momentous discovery of Jupiter’s four major reflectors 6 feet (1.8 m) in length would ‘perform as much
satellites (now dubbed the ‘Galilean satellites’; see JUPITER: as any sixty or hundred foot [18–30 m] tube made after the
SATELLITES) demonstrated that bodies other than the Earth common way’.
might have other objects in orbit around them, and so Although Newton was the first to build a reflecting
supported the Copernican view of the solar system. telescope, the principle of the reflector had originally been
His telescope also enabled Galileo to produce the first suggested by James GREGORY in 1663. However, his design
maps of the Moon, revealing its rough terrain along the proved extremely difficult to build. Whereas Gregory’s
terminator as it passed through different phases (see MOON instrument relied on a parabolic primary mirror with a
MAPS). Venus, too, was shown to have phases. Even the Sun central hole and an elliptical secondary mirror, Newton’s
was shown to be blemished as spots appeared and moved simply comprised a parabolic primary which reflected
across its face (see SUNSPOTS). Evidence from his drawings light onto a flat, tilted, secondary mirror (see GREGORIAN
suggests that Galileo even saw NEPTUNE in 1613, when it TELESCOPE).
was close to Jupiter, but he failed to observe it for long A variation on the Gregorian design soon arrived with
enough to recognize that it was not a ’fixed’ star. the introduction of the CASSEGRAIN TELESCOPE in 1672. This
Galileo’s arrangement of lenses was soon superseded version used a convex mirror inside the focal length to
by Johannes KEPLER’s system of two convex lenses, though reflect the light back through a central hole in the main

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Telescopes in History E N C Y C LO P E D IA O F A S T R O N O M Y AN D A S T R O P H Y S I C S

mirror. Today, it is the most common design for large speculum metal mirror ever made, and had a light grasp
reflecting telescopes. However, it was not until the mid more than double that of Herschel’s instrument. Built
eighteenth century that either the Gregorian or Cassegrain at Parsonstown (now Birr) in Ireland, this instrument
system was fully developed and became widespread. enabled Rosse to discover the spiral structure of certain
Cassegrain himself was never identified. nebulae (now recognized as galaxies), and to resolve others
Despite these advances, large reflectors remained into star clusters.
much more difficult to make than refractors, and half Although Jean FOUCAULT (1819–68) introduced silver
a century elapsed before they were able to compete on coating for glass mirrors, major astronomical instruments
equal terms. No important discoveries were made with were being equipped with speculum metal mirrors as late
reflecting telescopes until the time of William HERSCHEL as 1862. The last of the line was the Great Melbourne
(1738–1822). Telescope, whose 48 in (1.2 m) metal mirror required
Herschel was renowned as the best telescope maker repolishing after a few years’ use, and which was generally
of his time. At his home in Bath, which he turned regarded as a failure.
into a telescope workshop, Herschel experimented with Whilst reflectors were becoming the most widespread
different metal alloys in an attempt to find one with a high astronomical instruments, there was still considerable
reflectivity, good resistance to tarnishing and reasonable interest in pushing refractors to the limit. The culmination
ability to hold its shape during daily temperature changes. of this was the construction of the largest refracting
The best speculum metal alloy for his mirrors was found to telescopes ever built. The 36 in (0.9 m) instrument was
be 79% copper and 21% tin. In 1778, he used this mixture installed at LICK OBSERVATORY in 1888, and was followed by
for a 6.2 in (16 cm) reflecting telescope with a focal length the 40 in (1 m) telescope at YERKES OBSERVATORY in 1897.
of 7 ft (2.14 m), which he used for his second and third The driving force behind the Yerkes project, George
sky surveys. In 1782, a year after he used this instrument Ellery HALE (1868–1938), went on to promote the
to discover URANUS, he demonstrated its superiority to the construction of two gigantic reflecting telescopes. The
skeptical Astronomer Royal, Nevil MASKELYNE, at the Royal 100 in (2.5 m) Hooker Telescope on MOUNT WILSON, which
Observatory in Greenwich. was the largest in the world from 1918 until 1948, was the
Upon receiving patronage from King George III, first instrument capable of seeing objects that formed early
Herschel began to construct a giant 40 foot long (12 m) in the history of the Universe.
instrument with a mirror 48 in (1.2 m) in diameter. The 200 in (5 m) Hale Telescope on Mount PALOMAR,
Completed in 1789, it remained the largest telescope in completed in 1948, was used for photographic studies
the world for more than half a century. On his second which opened the way to further discoveries. Its giant
night of viewing with this monster, Herschel discovered primary mirror was a ribbed casting of Pyrex glass, while
the sixth moon of Saturn, ENCELADUS. Three weeks later, he its parabolic surface was coated with a thin film of highly
discovered a seventh moon, MIMAS. Yet he was generally reflective aluminum. In 1976, an even larger 236 in (6 m)
disappointed with his gigantic creation. It was clumsy to telescope was completed on Mount Semirodriki in the
operate, while the mirror tarnished rapidly in the damp Caucasus region of the Soviet Union.
climate and distorted under its own weight. For a while, their great weight and the difficulties
Most of Herschel’s discoveries were made with the in casting such monolithic mirrors seemed to present an
18.8 in (48 cm) reflector that he made in 1783. This insurmountable barrier to the development of still larger
instrument made a major contribution to the advancement telescopes. The primary mirror of the Hale Telescope
of astronomy when his son, John, installed it at the Cape weighs 13 tonnes, and was once considered the practical
of Good Hope in 1834–8, and was able to survey the LARGE limit for telescope size.
and SMALL MAGELLANIC CLOUDS, the center of our Galaxy, and While the giant reflectors were being used to study
the wonders of the southern skies. ever smaller fields of view, Bernhard SCHMIDT (1879–1935)
The early nineteenth century saw a number of was inventing a telescope which could take wide angle
improvements in telescope optics. One of the leading photographs. The first Schmidt camera, built in 1930,
telescope makers was the Director of the Physical and used a thin glass corrector plate to overcome spherical
Optical Institute of Munich, Joseph von FRAUNHOFER (1787– aberration. It soon spread around the world’s major
1826), the inventor of the equatorial mounting. The most observatories and was incorporated in various hybrid
famous of his instruments was the Great Dorpat Refractor designs such as the SCHMIDT–CASSEGRAIN.
which F G W STRUVE set up at the Dorpat Observatory in The next major advance was the replacement of
Estonia in 1824. This 9.5 in (24 cm) refractor was used by mechanical control systems by computers. In contrast
Struve to discover more than 2 000 double stars. to the Hale Telescope, which used huge motor-driven
Fraunhofer’s invention of the diffraction grating worm wheels controlled by a quartz crystal clock, the
and the later introduction of photography (first used in ANGLO-AUSTRALIAN Telescope, completed in 1975, set a new
1840) revolutionized optical astronomy and led to many standard in computer control and pointing accuracy.
discoveries. However, not until 1845 was Herschel’s Computer control was also the key to the introduction
48 inch telescope overtaken in size. Lord ROSSE’s 6 ft of the multiple mirrors and segmented mirrors that broke
(183 cm) aperture reflecting telescope contained the largest the telescope size barrier. Leading the way was the

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Telescopes in History E N C Y C LO P E D IA O F A S T R O N O M Y AN D A S T R O P H Y S I C S

MULTIPLE MIRROR TELESCOPE (MMT), which was built on galaxies located billions of light years away. An 8 m
Mount Hopkins in Arizona in 1977. By using six 72 in class replacement with a folding mirror, known as the
(1.8 m) mirrors in a circular array on an alt-azimuth Next Generation Space Telescope, is in the pipeline for
mounting, the telescope’s effective light-collecting area a 2008 launch(see SPACE INSTRUMENTATION: NEXT GENERATION
was equivalent to a single 172 in (4.5 m) instrument. One SPACE TELESCOPE). Multiple space telescopes using optical
of these mirrors was used in the discovery of the first interferometry, which will be capable of imaging Earth-
gravitationally lensed quasar. size planets around nearby stars, are envisaged for the
The revolutionary MMT system was eventually following decade.
replaced by a modern lightweight mirror with a
honeycomb construction in 1998. Mirrors of this type Peter Bond
consist of glass ribs between a thin, but rigid, concave
mirror and a flat back plate.
In recent years, adaptive and active optics have
been introduced in an attempt to compensate for image
degradation caused by the atmosphere. Meniscus
mirrors, that are too thin to support their own
weight, and segmented mirrors can now be adjusted by
computer-controlled servomechanical actuators so that
they maintain their optimal shape and position at all times.
Small adaptive mirrors may also be inserted in the light
path of the telescope to correct atmospheric distortions.
The EUROPEAN SOUTHERN OBSERVATORY’s 138 in (3.5 m) New
Technology Telescope was one of the pioneers in the
development of such active and adaptive optics.
The largest mirrors in the world today, installed in
the twin Keck telescopes on Mauna Kea, Hawaii, are
made from 36 hexagonal 72 in (1.8 m) mirrors which
fit together like bathroom tiles (see UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII
INSTITUTE FOR ASTRONOMY). These segments effectively create
a single mirror, 400 in (10 m) in diameter, with four times
the collecting power of the Hale Telescope.
Another new technique that will eventually operate
on the Keck telescopes is optical interferometry. Light from
nearby, but separate, telescopes is combined so that the
resulting image is equal to that received from a single giant
telescope.
The European Southern Observatory started con-
struction of the world’s largest optical interferometer in
1996. The Very Large Telescope (VLT) in northern Chile
will eventually combine the light from four 315 in (8 m)
telescopes, producing a performance equivalent to that of
a 630 in (16 m) instrument.
Meanwhile, advances in technology have also
enabled scientists from the University of Arizona, Ohio
State University and German and Italian astronomical
research institutions to cast the largest single-piece mirror
ever made. The LARGE BINOCULAR TELESCOPE at Mount
Graham Observatory in Arizona will eventually be
equipped with two 331 in (8.4 m) primary mirrors which
have a thickness of only 1.1 in (28 mm) in the center and
35 in (894 mm) at the edge. These will provide an image
comparable to that of a single 75 ft (23 m) telescope when
construction is complete in 2002.
Such advances have, at least partially, nullified the
advantages of placing telescopes in space. However,
despite its relatively small 95 in (2.4 m) mirror, the HUBBLE
SPACE TELESCOPE (launched in 1990) continues to return
some of the highest resolution optical images of faint

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