Telescopes and Binoculars
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Practical Calculations for Designing a Newtonian Telescope
Practical Calculations for Designing a Newtonian Telescope Jeff Beish (Rev. 07 February 2019) INTRODUCTION A Newtonian reflecting telescope can be designed to perform more efficiently than any other type of optical system, if one is careful to follow the laws of nature. One must have optics made from precision Pyrex or a similar material and figured to a high quality. The mounting hardware must be well planned out and properly constructed using highest quality materials. The Newtonian can be used for visual or photographic work, for "deep sky" or "planetary" observing, or a combination of all these. They are easy to layout and to construct using simple household tools. The design mathematics is simple and can be easily accomplished by hand calculator. The Newtonian reflector can be easily modified for other types of observing such a photometry, photography, CCD imaging, micrometer work, and more. Since a reflecting telescope does not suffer for chromatic aberration we don't have to worry about focusing each color while observing or photographing with filters as we would in a single or double lens refractor. This is a problem especially associated with photography. Since the introduction of the relatively low cost Apochromatic refractors (APO) in the past few years these problems no longer hamper the astrophotographer as much. However, the cost of large APO's for those requiring large apertures is prohibitive to most of us who require instruments above 12 or so inches. Remember, even with the highest quality optics a Newtonian can be rendered nearly useless by tube currents, misaligned components, mirror stain, and a secondary mirror too large for the application of the instrument. -
Edwin Powell Hubble Papers: Finding Aid
http://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/tf7b69n8rd Online items available Edwin Powell Hubble Papers: Finding Aid Processed by Ronald S. Brashear, completed December 12, 1997; machine-readable finding aid created by Xiuzhi Zhou and updated by Diann Benti in June 2017. The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens Manuscripts Department 1151 Oxford Road San Marino, California 91108 Phone: (626) 405-2191 Email: [email protected] URL: http://www.huntington.org © 1998 The Huntington Library. All rights reserved. Edwin Powell Hubble Papers: mssHUB 1-1098 1 Finding Aid Overview of the Collection Title: Edwin Powell Hubble Papers Dates (inclusive): 1900-1989 Collection Number: mssHUB 1-1098 Creator: Hubble, Edwin, 1889-1953. Extent: 1300 pieces, plus ephemera in 34 boxes Repository: The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens. Manuscripts Department 1151 Oxford Road San Marino, California 91108 Phone: (626) 405-2191 Email: [email protected] URL: http://www.huntington.org Abstract: This collection contains the papers of Edwin P. Hubble (1889-1953), an astronomer at the Mount Wilson Observatory near Pasadena, California. as well as the diaries and biographical memoirs of his wife, Grace Burke Hubble. Language: English. Access Open to qualified researchers by prior application through the Reader Services Department. For more information, contact Reader Services. Publication Rights The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to quote from or publish images of this material, nor does it charge fees for such activities. The responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if there is one, and obtaining necessary permissions rests with the researcher. Preferred Citation [Identification of item]. -
The Reflecting Telescope
The Reflecting Telescope Lens telescopes exist since 1609 when the Dutch maker of The optical properties data of the AstroMedia* reflecting tel- spectacles, Jan Lippershey, sold the first telescopes, then as escope roughly correspond to those of the first instrument a curiosity, to his astonished customers. It was made out of a built by Newton. The mirror has a focal length f=450mm (”f” concave and a convex lens, produced an upright standing from the Latin ”focus” is the abbreviation of focal length). It’s image and had a 3 1/2 times magnification. Galileo Galilei curve is spherical, i.e. is has the same round surface as a (1564-1642) improved on this invention and was the first to globe. make astronomical observations with it. Today almost A spherical concave mirror has one disadvantage: the all lens telescopes are built according to the prin- light rays reflected from the edge meet a little nearer ciples of Johannes Kepler (1571-1630). His tel- to the mirror than those reflected from the centre, escope, based on two convex lenses, produced causing a slight focus distortion. However, since an upside down but much bigger and better this distortion is is not grave and such mirrors focused image which of course for observing are relatively easy to grind, they are neverthe- the heavens are the most important factors. less used in smaller telescopes. In telescopes Building larger telescopes however with larger openings and stronger mag- brings two problems with it: Firstly, nification mirrors with parabolic curves in a lens the light rays are broken, are used. -
Find Your Telescope. Your Find Find Yourself
FIND YOUR TELESCOPE. FIND YOURSELF. FIND ® 2008 PRODUCT CATALOG WWW.MEADE.COM TABLE OF CONTENTS TELESCOPE SECTIONS ETX ® Series 2 LightBridge ™ (Truss-Tube Dobsonians) 20 LXD75 ™ Series 30 LX90-ACF ™ Series 50 LX200-ACF ™ Series 62 LX400-ACF ™ Series 78 Max Mount™ 88 Series 5000 ™ ED APO Refractors 100 A and DS-2000 Series 108 EXHIBITS 1 - AutoStar® 13 2 - AutoAlign ™ with SmartFinder™ 15 3 - Optical Systems 45 FIND YOUR TELESCOPE. 4 - Aperture 57 5 - UHTC™ 68 FIND YOURSEL F. 6 - Slew Speed 69 7 - AutoStar® II 86 8 - Oversized Primary Mirrors 87 9 - Advanced Pointing and Tracking 92 10 - Electronic Focus and Collimation 93 ACCESSORIES Imagers (LPI,™ DSI, DSI II) 116 Series 5000 ™ Eyepieces 130 Series 4000 ™ Eyepieces 132 Series 4000 ™ Filters 134 Accessory Kits 136 Imaging Accessories 138 Miscellaneous Accessories 140 Meade Optical Advantage 128 Meade 4M Community 124 Astrophotography Index/Information 145 ©2007 MEADE INSTRUMENTS CORPORATION .01 RECRUIT .02 ENTHUSIAST .03 HOT ShOT .04 FANatIC Starting out right Going big on a budget Budding astrophotographer Going deeper .05 MASTER .06 GURU .07 SPECIALIST .08 ECONOMIST Expert astronomer Dedicated astronomer Wide field views & images On a budget F IND Y OURSEL F F IND YOUR TELESCOPE ® ™ ™ .01 ETX .02 LIGHTBRIDGE™ .03 LXD75 .04 LX90-ACF PG. 2-19 PG. 20-29 PG.30-43 PG. 50-61 ™ ™ ™ .05 LX200-ACF .06 LX400-ACF .07 SERIES 5000™ ED APO .08 A/DS-2000 SERIES PG. 78-99 PG. 100-105 PG. 108-115 PG. 62-76 F IND Y OURSEL F Astronomy is for everyone. That’s not to say everyone will become a serious comet hunter or astrophotographer. -
Solar System Solar System
Delta Science Reader SolarSolar SystemSystem Delta Science Readers are nonfiction student books that provide science background and support the experiences of hands-on activities. Every Delta Science Reader has three main sections: Think About . , People in Science, and Did You Know? Be sure to preview the reader Overview Chart on page 4, the reader itself, and the teaching suggestions on the following pages. This information will help you determine how to plan your schedule for reader selections and activity sessions. Reading for information is a key literacy skill. Use the following ideas as appropriate for your teaching style and the needs of your students. The After Reading section includes an assessment and writing links. OVERVIEW Students will: discover facts about the Solar System In the Delta Science Reader Solar System, students take a tour of the Sun and the explore the planets and other objects in the planets. Other space objects such as dwarf Solar System planets, comets, asteroids, and meteoroids discuss the function of a table of contents, are explored. Students read about the headings, and a glossary rotation and revolution of the planets and interpret photographs and graphics to the causes of night and day, seasonal answer questions changes, and the phases of the Moon. The book describes the work of a planetary complete a KWL chart geologist. In addition, students discover organize information in a variety of ways how telescopes work. delta science modules Solar System 119 © Delta Education LLC. All rights reserved. -
Astronomical Binoculars
30˚E 15˚E OWNER’S MANUAL ASTRONOMICAL BINOCULARS ZHUMELL 20X80 SUPERGIANT ASTRONOMICAL BINOCULARS 0˚ 15˚W 75˚W 60˚W 30˚W 45˚W Zhumell customers know that there are plenty of ways to experience the world. They also understand that, however you choose to explore it, the best experience is one that fully immerses you in the world’s most striking details. That’s where our optics products come in. We strive to put high-performance products in the hands of our customers so that they can experience the world up close, with their own eyes. With Zhumell, you get field-tested, precision-crafted optics at the best possible value. So even if you’re just starting out as an amateur birder or astronomer, you don’t have to settle for entry-level products. Zhumell customers enjoy life’s pursuits, hobbies, and adventures in rich, colorful detail- the kind of detail that only high-performance optics can produce. At Zhumell, we design our binoculars, telescopes, and spotting scopes for discerning, price-conscious users who are uncompromising on quality. If you’re looking for accessibly priced optics that will bring your world within reach, you’re looking for Zhumell. Enjoy the view. 2 ENJOYING YOUR ZHUMELL ASTRONOMICAL BINOCULARS 1. Caring For Your Binoculars 2. Using Your Binoculars i. Tripod Mounting ii. Interpupillary Distance iii. Center and Diopter Focus 3. Terrestrial and Astronomical Viewing 4. Astronomical Observation Tips i. Selecting a Viewing Site ii. Seeing and Transparency iii. Dark-Adapting iv. Tracking Celestial Objects 5. Cool Views i. The Moon ii. -
Viewing an Eclipse Safely
ECLIPSES SOLAR an eclipse safely How to observe SOLAR ECLIPSE, OCTOBER 2014, BY LEMAN NORTHWAY Solar eclipses are quite rare and are often a major event. The SOLAR ECLIPSES Moon passes right in front of the Sun, blotting out its disc. Every time a solar eclipse occurs there are various things to look for. However, it is extremely dangerous to just go out and look up. The Sun is so bright that just looking at it can blind you, so you’ll need to prepare beforehand. There are various ways to observe eclipses safely, using both everyday materials and telescopes or binoculars. So read this leaflet Introduction to find out what happens during an eclipse and how you can see all the stages of the event safely. This booklet was written by the Royal Astronomical Society with The Society for Popular Astronomy and is endorsed by the British Astronomical Association The Royal Astronomical The Society for Popular Formed in 1890, the Society, founded in Astronomy is for British Astronomical 1820, encourages and beginners of all ages. Our Association has an promotes the study of aim is to make astronomy international reputation astronomy, solar-system fun, and our magazine, for the quality of science, geophysics and Popular Astronomy, is full its observational closely related branches of information to help and scientific work. of science. you get to know the Membership is open to www.ras.org.uk sky and get involved. We even have a special Young all persons interested in HIGGS-BOSON.COM JOHNSON: PAUL BY D Stargazers section, run by TV’s Lucie Green. -
Researchers Hunting Exoplanets with Superconducting Arrays
Cryocoolers, a Brief Overview .............................. 8 NASA Preps Four Telescope Missions .............. 37 Lake Shore Celebrates 50 Years ....................... 22 ICCRT Recap ..................................................... 38 Recovering Cold Energy and Waste Heat ............ 32 3-D Printing from Aqueous Materials .................. 40 Exoplanet Hunt with ADR-Cooled Superconducting Detector Arrays | 34 Volume 34 Number 3 Researchers Hunting Exoplanets with Superconducting Arrays The key to revealing the exoplanets tucked away around the universe may just be locked up in the advancement of Microwave Kinetic Inductance Detectors (MKIDs), an array of superconducting de- tectors made from platinum sillicide and housed in a cryostat at 100 mK. An astronomy team led by Dr. Benjamin Mazin at the University of California Santa Barbara is using MKID arrays for research on two telescopes, the Hale telescope at Palomar Observatory near San Diego and the Subaru telescope located at the Maunakea Observatory on Hawaii. Mazin began work on MKIDs nearly two decades ago while working under Dr. Jonas Zmuidzinas at Caltech, who co-pioneered the detectors for cosmic microwave background astronomy with Dr. Henry LeDuc at JPL. A look inside the DARKNESS cryostat. Image: Mazin Mazin has since adapted and ad- vanced the technology for the direct im- aging of exoplanets. With direct imaging, telescopes detect light from the planet itself, recording either the self-luminous thermal infrared light that young—and still hot—planets give off, or reflected light from a star that bounces off a planet and then towards the detector. Researchers have previously relied on indirect methods to search for exo- planets, including the radial velocity technique that looks at the spectrum of a star as it’s pushed and pulled by its planetary companions; and transit pho- tometry, where a dip in the brightness of a star is detected as planets cross in front The astronomy team working with Dr. -
Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts
Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts Foresight, Insight, Oversight, and Hindsight in Scientific Discovery: How Sighted Were Galileo's Telescopic Sightings? Dean Keith Simonton Online First Publication, January 30, 2012. doi: 10.1037/a0027058 CITATION Simonton, D. K. (2012, January 30). Foresight, Insight, Oversight, and Hindsight in Scientific Discovery: How Sighted Were Galileo's Telescopic Sightings?. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1037/a0027058 Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts © 2012 American Psychological Association 2012, Vol. ●●, No. ●, 000–000 1931-3896/12/$12.00 DOI: 10.1037/a0027058 Foresight, Insight, Oversight, and Hindsight in Scientific Discovery: How Sighted Were Galileo’s Telescopic Sightings? Dean Keith Simonton University of California, Davis Galileo Galilei’s celebrated contributions to astronomy are used as case studies in the psychology of scientific discovery. Particular attention was devoted to the involvement of foresight, insight, oversight, and hindsight. These four mental acts concern, in divergent ways, the relative degree of “sightedness” in Galileo’s discovery process and accordingly have implications for evaluating the blind-variation and selective-retention (BVSR) theory of creativity and discovery. Scrutiny of the biographical and historical details indicates that Galileo’s mental processes were far less sighted than often depicted in retrospective accounts. Hindsight biases clearly tend to underline his insights and foresights while ignoring his very frequent and substantial oversights. Of special importance was how Galileo was able to create a domain-specific expertise where no such expertise previously existed—in part by exploiting his extensive knowledge and skill in the visual arts. Galileo’s success as an astronomer was founded partly and “blindly” on his artistic avocations. -
The JWST/Nircam Coronagraph: Mask Design and Fabrication
The JWST/NIRCam coronagraph: mask design and fabrication John E. Krista, Kunjithapatham Balasubramaniana, Charles A. Beichmana, Pierre M. Echternacha, Joseph J. Greena, Kurt M. Liewera, Richard E. Mullera, Eugene Serabyna, Stuart B. Shaklana, John T. Traugera, Daniel W. Wilsona, Scott D. Hornerb, Yalan Maob, Stephen F. Somersteinb, Gopal Vasudevanb, Douglas M. Kellyc, Marcia J. Riekec aJet Propulsion Laboratory/California Institute of Technology, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasasdena, CA, USA 91109; bLockheed Martin Advanced Technology Center, Palo Alto, CA, USA 94303; cUniversity of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA 85721 ABSTRACT The NIRCam instrument on the James Webb Space Telescope will provide coronagraphic imaging from λ=1-5 µm of high contrast sources such as extrasolar planets and circumstellar disks. A Lyot coronagraph with a variety of circular and wedge-shaped occulting masks and matching Lyot pupil stops will be implemented. The occulters approximate grayscale transmission profiles using halftone binary patterns comprising wavelength-sized metal dots on anti-reflection coated sapphire substrates. The mask patterns are being created in the Micro Devices Laboratory at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory using electron beam lithography. Samples of these occulters have been successfully evaluated in a coronagraphic testbed. In a separate process, the complex apertures that form the Lyot stops will be deposited onto optical wedges. The NIRCam coronagraph flight components are expected to be completed this year. Keywords: NIRCam, JWST, James Webb Space Telescope, coronagraph 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 The planet/star contrast problem Observations of extrasolar planet formation (e.g. protoplanetary disks) and planetary systems are hampered by the large contrast differences between these targets and their much brighter stars. -
A Newly-Discovered Accurate Early Drawing of M51, the Whirlpool Nebula
Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage , 11(2), 107-115 (2008). A NEWLY-DISCOVERED ACCURATE EARLY DRAWING OF M51, THE WHIRLPOOL NEBULA William Tobin 6 rue Saint Louis, 56000 Vannes, France. E-mail: [email protected] and J.B. Holberg Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona, 1541 East University Boulevard, Tucson, AZ 85721, U.S.A. E-mail: [email protected] Abstract: We have discovered a lost drawing of M51, the nebula in which spiral structure was first discovered by Lord Rosse. The drawing was made in April 1862 by Jean Chacornac at the Paris Observatory using Léon Foucault’s newly-completed 80-cm silvered-glass reflecting telescope. Comparison with modern images shows that Chacornac’s drawing was more accurate with respect to gross structure and showed fainter details than any other nineteenth century drawing, although its superiority would not have been apparent at the time without nebular photography to provide a standard against which to judge drawing quality. M51 is now known as the Whirlpool Nebula, but the astronomical appropriation of ‘whirlpool’ predates Rosse’s discovery. Keywords: reflecting telescopes, nebulae, spiral structure, Léon Foucault, Lord Rosse, M51, Whirlpool Nebula 1 REFLECTING TELESCOPES AND SPIRAL STRUCTURE The French physicist Léon Foucault (1819–1868) is the father of the reflecting telescope in its modern form, with large, optically-perfect, metallized glass or ceramic mirrors. Foucault achieved this breakthrough while working as ‘physicist’ at the Paris Observatory in the late 1850s. The largest telescope that he built (Foucault, 1862) had a silvered-glass, f/5.6 primary mirror of 80-cm diameter in a Newtonian configura- tion (see Figure 1). -
Can You Spot the Sunspots?
Spot the Sunspots Can you spot the sunspots? Description Use binoculars or a telescope to identify and track sunspots. You’ll need a bright sunny day. Age Level: 10 and up Materials • two sheets of bright • Do not use binoculars whose white paper larger, objective lenses are 50 • a book mm or wider in diameter. • tape • Binoculars are usually described • binoculars or a telescope by numbers like 7 x 35; the larger • tripod number is the diameter in mm of • pencil the objective lenses. • piece of cardboard, • Some binoculars cannot be easily roughly 30 cm x 30 cm attached to a tripod. • scissors • You might need to use rubber • thick piece of paper, roughly bands or tape to safely hold the 10 cm x 10 cm (optional) binoculars on the tripod. • rubber bands (optional) Time Safety Preparation: 5 minutes Do not look directly at the sun with your eyes, Activity: 15 minutes through binoculars, or through a telescope! Do not Cleanup: 5 minutes leave binoculars or a telescope unattended, since the optics can be damaged by too much Sun exposure. 1 If you’re using binoculars, cover one of the objective (larger) lenses with either a lens cap or thick piece of folded paper (use tape, attached to the body of the binoculars, to hold the paper in position). If using a telescope, cover the finderscope the same way. This ensures that only a single image of the Sun is created. Next, tape one piece of paper to a book to make a stiff writing surface. If using binoculars, trace both of the larger, objective lenses in the middle of the piece of cardboard.