Lens Inquiry

A CfAO/ISEE Designed LaboratoryHartnell Community College

September 2009

Astronomy

• The study of objects and matter outside the Earth's atmosphere and of their physical and chemical properties (Merriam Webster dictionary).

• The objects of study are located so far away, so the only property that astronomers have to study is the light emitted, absorbed, reflected, or scattered by matter in the Universe.

Astronomers rely on Telescopes

• Telescopes improve our vision of the objects of study. They can do so in a number of ways:– make the object appear larger (although maybe

we don't want to say this)– make the object appear sharper (? looking for a

word alternative to resolution)– make the object appear brighter

State-of-the-Art Telescopes

Famous Telescopes:The Hubble Space Telescope

• Reflecting telescope (Mirrors) with 2.4m Primary

Keck: 10m Reflecting Telescopes

• Each of the primary mirrors is composed of 36 hexagonal segments that work together as a single piece of reflective glass

As technology evolves, telescopes become more advanced and allow us to see more detail in a range of

astronomical objects.

Things Inside our Solar System

Saturn Neptune

• Credit: Saturn G. S. Orton & P. A. Yanamandra-Fisher (JPL), Keck Observatory, NASA, Uranus Lawrence Sromovsky, (Univ. Wisconsin-Madison), Keck Observatory, Neptune AO Staff, Keck, LLNL

• Astronomy Picture of the Day: http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/

Uranus

Things inside our own galaxy, the Milky Way

M16: Pillars of Creation NGC 1499: The California Nebula

• Credit: M16 J. Hester, P. Scowen (ASU), HST, NASA NGC 1499 Caltech, Palomar Observatory, Digitized Sky Survey; Courtesy: Scott Kardel

Other galaxies

• Credit & Copyright: M31 Robert Gendler (robgendlerastropics.com) Hubble Ultra Deep Field S. Beckwith & the HUDF Working Group (STScI), HST, ESA, NASA

M31: The Andromeda Galaxy The Hubble Ultra Deep Field

Refracting Telescopes

Local Refracting (Lens) Telescopes:36 inch Refractor at Lick Observatory

20 inch Refractor at theChabot Space and Science Center

What’s Inside?

Layout

Challenger Telescope atFremont Peak Observatory

• 30” Diameter• f/4.8 Newtonian on an

English cross-axis equatorial mount

• First light in 1986

Red Saturn

• Credit: G. S. Orton & P. A. Yanamandra-Fisher (JPL), Keck Observatory, NASA • Explanation: This strange, false-color image of otherwise familiar planet

Saturn shows temperature changes based on thermal infrared emission in the gas giant's atmosphere and rings.

Neptune through Adaptive Optics

• Credit: AO Staff, Keck, LLNL

• Explanation: From the Earth's surface, Neptune usually appears as a fuzzy blotch. This image of Neptune in three infrared colors demonstrates the clarity of the new technique – Adaptive Optics - as compared to an image of Neptune from Keck II without AO.

A Sharper View of a Tilted Planet

• Credit: Lawrence Sromovsky, (Univ. Wisconsin-Madison), Keck Observatory • Explanation: These sharp views of tilted gas giant Uranus show dramatic

details of the planet's atmosphere and ring system.

M16: Pillars of Creation

• Credit: J. Hester, P. Scowen (ASU), HST, NASA

• Explanation: This image, taken with the Hubble Space Telescope in 1995, shows evaporating gaseous globules (EGGs) emerging from pillars of molecular hydrogen gas and dust.

NGC 1499: The California Nebula

• Credit: Caltech, Palomar Observatory, Digitized Sky Survey; Courtesy: Scott Kardel• Explanation: What's California doing in space? Drifting through the Orion Arm of

the spiral Milky Way Galaxy, this cosmic cloud by chance echoes the outline of California on the west coast of the United States.

M31: The Andromeda Galaxy

Credit & Copyright: Robert Gendler (robgendlerastropics.com) Astronomy Picture of the Day: http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/

The Hubble Ultra Deep Field

• Credit: S. Beckwith & the HUDF Working Group (STScI), HST, ESA, NASA

• Explanation: The Hubble Ultra Deep Field is the deepest image of the universe ever taken in visible light, showing a sampling of the oldest galaxies ever seen, galaxies that formed just after the dark ages, 13 billion years ago, when the universe was only 5 percent of its present age.