All About Telescopes

Telescopes help us to see far distances. The first telescope was invented in the early 1600s. Before then people had to rely on the naked eye. Much reliance was placed on people with sharp eyes. When telescopes came about they were quickly adopted by mariners and travelers and members of the military. They soon were put to scientific use. Galileo Galilei was the first to use telescopes for the study of of the stars and planets.

This site will show you how telescopes work and will give you some idea about how to find a telescope for your own purposes. To navigate this site in the manner in which it was intended, you can just click on the "next page" link at the bottom of each page. You can also click on a specific page on the navbar or in the table of contents below:

Refracting Telescopes use lenses in order to form an image and magnify it.

Reflecting Telescopes use mirrors to form an image. However, it is still magnified by a lense.

Radio Telescopes are used primarilly for scientific and military applications.

How to Choose a Telescope? Find out what type of telescope would be best for your purposes.