Category Archives: Instruments

includes telescopes and space probes

Blog Post #2

For centuries astronomers have used telescopes to look into the night sky. In 1946 Lyman Spitzer, a prominent astrophysicist in his time, theorized that a telescope placed outside of Earth’s atmosphere would be able to collect much clearer data than telescopes on the surface of the planet. The logic behind his theory is that the … Continue reading Blog Post #2 Continue reading

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Blog Post #2

For centuries astronomers have used telescopes to look into the night sky. In 1946 Lyman Spitzer, a prominent astrophysicist in his time, theorized that a telescope placed outside of Earth’s atmosphere would be able to collect much clearer data than telescopes on the surface of the planet. The logic behind his theory is that the … Continue reading Blog Post #2 Continue reading

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James Webb Telescope

The James Webb Space Telescope, or JWST, will be a large telescope that is intended to be the premier observatory of the next decade. The telescope will study every phase in the history of the universe, from right after the Big Bang to the formation of the universe that we know today, and even the … Continue reading James Webb Telescope Continue reading

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On This Day in Astronomy History…

  Thirty-four years ago today, on February 7th 1984, NASA Astronaut Bruce McCandless II became the first person to fly untethered from their spacecraft. McCandless, who just recently passed December 21st at the age of 80, was able to travel 320 feet from the space shuttle Challenger without any connection to the shuttle. He accomplished […] Continue reading

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The Largest Telescope in the World

Wikipedia Commons In order to allow for astronomers to observe far into space, there are numerous gigantic telescopes laid out globally. None larger than the Gran Telescopio Canarias, located on the island of La Palma in the Spanish Canary Islands. As an infra-red telescope, the telescope seeks to explore questions such as the mystique surrounding […] Continue reading

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GMT: What else is out there?

This telescope, the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) is currently in the process of being built. It is a refractory telescope with 7 separate mirrors that each have a diameter of 8.4 meters. This telescope is going to be incredibly large. In fact, it is going to be the largest optical telescope to be built. According … Continue reading GMT: What else is out there? Continue reading

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Of Light and Glass (Blog #2)

Humans had been studying the stars for thousands of years before the first telescopes had been invented. The naked eye was enough to understand basic astronomical phenomena in the solar system, but if we wanted understand more, the human eye would need some help. Although they were primitive and only had magnifications of around three … Continue reading Of Light and Glass (Blog #2) Continue reading

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First Super-Earth Exoplanet with Atmosphere Discovered

Earlier this month, scientists discovered the existence of an atmosphere on an exoplanet much like Earth, making this the first Earth-like exoplanet with atmosphere to have been detected aside from earth itself. The planet is named GJ 1132b, located in the constellation Vela as a planet of the low-mass star GJ 1132. The planet is […] Continue reading

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Europa Clipper

In the not too distant future, NASA will be sending a probe to one of Jupiter’s moons. I’m sure you can guess from the title of this blog post that the probe will be sent to Europa. Recently, NASA announced the name of this mission: Europa Clipper. It is named after clippers, swift ships that […] Continue reading

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12 Billion Miles Away and On Your TV

Ever wondered how a probe called Voyager managed to make it 12 billion miles away from this pale blue dot? … More Continue reading

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