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Astronomy Through the Telescope: The 500 Year Story of the Instruments, the Inventors, and their Discoveries
Astronomy Through the Telescope The 500 Year Story of the Instruments the Inventors and their Discoveries Author:Richard Learner More than any other device ever invented the telescope has changed man's understanding of the universe in which he lives. This book shows, by means of an authoritative text and illustrations that succeed in making the subject accessible to all general readers, how this remarkable instrument developed and what a wealth of knowledge it has brought... more » to the astronomers who have used it since its invention in 1608 by Hans Lippershey.
Through his telescope, Galileo saw the Milky Way, the Mountains of the Moon, sunspots and Jupiter's satellites-observations which threw into disarray beliefs that the Earth was the center of the universe. Some fifty years later, in 1668, Isaac Newton invented the reflecting telescope(using mirrors rather than lenses) -- in 1918 a 250-centimeter aperture reflector helped prove Einsteins's theory of an expanding universe.
'Astronomy Through the Telescope' contains a wealth of photographs and specially drawn artwork which illustrates the most important telescopes, not only revealing the beauty of these precision instruments but also describing innovations of design and invention. In recent years the general-purpose optical telescope has been joined by a whole host of specialist instruments-radio and infra-red telescopes; instruments designed to observe particular objects such as the Sun; and the space program rocket and satellite-borne telescopes and the lunar and interplanetary spacecraft. This book also features a discussion of modern amateur astronomy, including practical advice for would-be telescope users, and the most recent information on telescopes of the future.
Although the author is an expert, 'Astronomy Through the Telescope' is written for the layman, who will quickly find himself at home among the stars and the "celestial machines," while at the same time understanding the secrets of the universe and making the agreeable discovery that many astronomers were, and are, all too human.« less