How does a Telescope work?
A telescope is a long tube with magnifying lenses at both ends and at the end you put to your eye, it has two convex (curved outward) lenses, which magnify the image. At the far end of the telescope is a concave (curved inward) lens which draws in the light. The distance between these two sets of lenses can be changed to focus the image and make it clear. And what really happens when you put the telescope on your eye is that the light from the outside hits the far lens, along with the image you are looking at. As this light passes through the tube and hits the lens nearest your eye, the image is magnified and appears close, but it also appears upside down. This is because the light entering the telescope bends the image. Larger lenses and longer tubes were designed to see heavenly images which were farther and farther away. It was found, however, that these larger lenses blurred the images when they magnified them. And remember a telescope does not have to collect visible light to be considered a telescope. Most telescopes’ primary collection surfaces are parabolic, because the nature of the shape amplifies the wave by directing it back to a focal point.
Once the incoming waves have been reflected to a focal point, they are then gathered for study. In the case of radio equipment, this is the feed horn which then amplifies the focalized radio waves for study. For a telescope, the light waves at the focal point are then amplified again by the telescope eyepiece. Using a telescope does sound intriguing and to top things up, you will be discovering new things so go and buy one and take your kids to the balcony and see what wonders you will come across while starring at the skies.
Your children will love it and maybe this might inspire them to take it as a career one day, or maybe they can do it as a hobby. Kids like interesting things and learning how a telescope works will be one of the things they enjoy doing with their parents.
