what is a telescope lens

what is a telescope lens

What is a Telescope Lens?

A telescope lens is necessary to make a refracting telescope. This type of largest Telescope was popular in the 19s. Nowadays, people like to use mirrors in the Telescope. For many years, astronomers use the gadget ‘telescope’ to see faraway things closely. Lens or mirror of the Telescope collect and focus light and help us to understand. Again, we can see the use of lenses in our eyeglasses. They help to see objects.

Properties of Telescope Lens

In general, telescopes with lens and mirror perform similar tasks. So, at first, we have to know the main properties of the Telescope. Two essential features are-

  1. a) The capability of collecting light- We know the mirrors and the lenses in a telescope as’ Optics.’ High optics can gather more light. The largest Telescope with high optics supports to see very pale objects.
  2. b) Magnification-Magnification ability is essential. A powerful telescope lens or mirror makes the purposes significant. It helps the observers to understand easily.

Types of Telescope Lens

There are two main types of telescope lenses. The first and large lens is ‘Objective Lens,’ and the second lens is ‘Eyepiece.’

  1. a) Objective Lens-The type of this lens is convex. It collects the light and bends them to the focal point of a telescope.
  2. b) Eyepiece-Our retina can catch the sun with the help of this. Eyepiece takes a view from the focal point and covers our retina. Thus, we can see objects closely. The two standard sizes of eyepieces of a telescope are 1.25″ and 2″ diameter.

Telescope Lens: How Refraction works?

When light passes from one medium to another, it bends. We call the bending of light as Refraction. Refraction helps to focus light onto our retina, and then we see. Light sometimes travels with fast speed and slows down its’ rate sometimes. It depends on different mediums. Again, the direction or bending of fire depends on this speed. Transparent substances have a fixed refractive index of light.

How to Make a Telescope with Telescope Lens at home?

Anyone can make a simple telescope at home. Only a few things will need to make it, those are-

  1. A long cardboard tube. For example- a paper towel roll.
  2. Magnifying glasses. Two different sizes are right.
  3. Duct tape.
  4. Scissor
  5. Pencil.
  6. Meterstick.
  7. Paper with prints. For instance- newspaper, magazine.

Making procedure: At first, we will place the big lens between our eyes and paper. This time prints will seem blurry. Then we will put the other lens between our eyes and the big lens. We have to move the small lens now until we see clear images. After that, we need to measure the distance between the lenses.

In the next step, we will cut the cardboard close to the front side. This slot will hold the large glass. Then according to the distance measurement, we can cut another slot. We will put the second glass there. One thing to remember is that the front side will hold that large lens.

In contrast, the backside will hold that small lens, and we will tape them. Afterward, we will cut the extra part of the tube, leaving a 0.5-1 inch part. Then we have to play and adjust the instrument to get the right focus. We can see nearer things, moon and a group of stars with it.

Applications of Telescope Lens: Refracting Telescope

There are a wide variety of uses of the telescope lens. Top seven of them are-

  1. In photography, the telescope lens is beneficial and accessible.
  2. Researchers used it in earth orbit.
  3. Scientist Galileo Galilei used lenses in the Telescope in 1610. He discovered Galilean satellites in Jupiter. It is a great application, indeed.
  4. Scientists Christiaan Huygens discovered moons of Saturn and Titan. He took help from refractors.
  5. It assisted in discovering ‘Steller,’ the small companion of Sirius with success.
  6. Edward Emerson Barnard applied this type of large Telescope in 1892. He discovered Jupiter’s moon Amalthea.
  7. Planet Pluto is one of the famous discoveries with the refracting Telescope.

 

Comparison between Telescope Lens and Telescope Mirror

Some differences are there between the Telescope lens and the mirror. Those are-

Telescope Lens Telescope Mirror
1.     Telescope with lens is Refracting Telescope. 1.     Telescope with mirror is Reflecting Telescope.
2.     A lens is heavy. 2.     A mirror can be very light and thin.
3.     Making procedure is a complex of a large telescope lens with good magnification ability. 3.     A large telescope mirror’s making procedure with good magnification ability is easy.
4.     It is difficult to clean. 4.      Mirrors have only one side. So, it is easy to polish and clean.
5.     The images appear the right way. 5.     The images appear upside down, and we have to use another mirror to flip.
6.     Refractors have more resistance capability to misalignment than the reflector telescopes. 6.     It has less resistance capability to misalignment.
7.     Lenses create color distortion problem of images. 7.     It does not ruin the original colors of the pictures.

 

Telescope Lens: Some Interesting Facts about Telescope

There are some funny things to know about a telescope. They are-

  • Military and Sea merchants used the first telescopes for their work purpose.
  • The air is spotless and thin at the top of the mountains, because of this reason, observers do most experiments there.
  • In modern days, astronomers control telescopes with remotes. It is possible with the help of computers and the internet.
  • Hubble Telescope is a space telescope. James Webb Space Telescope is the same as it but a modern one. Scientists will launch it in 2021.
  • The largest Telescope (Refractor) is at Yerkes Observatory in Wisconsin.

Telescope lens: Examples of Best Refractors

These types of telescopes are not popular nowadays. But, there are still some good ones, five popular of those are-

  1. Orion 10013 GoScope- 80 mm TableTop
  2. Celestron 21034 Ambassador- 80 mm
  3. Gskyer AZ70400 Telescope
  4. Sky-Watcher ProED 80 mm Doublet APO Refractor Telescope
  5. Gskyer 60 mm AZ Refractor

 

Written

Rumana Rashid Priyanka

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