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The Telescope

- Exploring space since 1609

telescope

Telescopes were invented in the early 17th century. In 1609 Galileo was the first to aim a telescope at the sky. His telescope magnified objects only 20 times, but he revolutionized astronomy by observing mountains on the Moon, discovering the four large satellites of Jupiter and the phases of Venus, and seeing that the Milky Way is made of many stars. The next leap in telescope technology was Isaac Newton's reflector, which used mirrors instead of lenses. Telescopes now are gigantic instruments that require entire buildings. The largest optical telescope in the world today is the Gran Telescopio Canarias, which has a mirror 10.4 meters (34.1 feet) across.



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