Telescope Optics

The author provides a brief historical and technological review of different types of telescopes, and how they were developed and improved. When you stop and think about it, virtually all of astronomy is applied spectroscopy. As the happy recipient of a new Meade ETX-125AT telescope on a recent birthday, I thought this installment of "The Baseline" might address a fundamental spectroscopic issue in telescopes: their basic optics. The telescope was invented around 1608, apparently by the Flemish spectacle maker Hans Lipperhey. One person who seized upon the capabilities of this new instrument...