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151-411: A refracting telescope (also called a refractor ) is a type of optical telescope that uses a lens as its objective to form an image (also referred to a dioptric telescope ). The refracting telescope design was originally used in spyglasses and astronomical telescopes but is also used for long-focus camera lenses . Although large refracting telescopes were very popular in the second half of

302-411: A = 313 Π 10800 {\displaystyle D_{a}={\frac {313\Pi }{10800}}} radians to arcsecs is given by: D a = 313 Π 10800 ⋅ 206265 = 1878 {\displaystyle D_{a}={\frac {313\Pi }{10800}}\cdot 206265=1878} . An example using a telescope with an aperture of 130 mm observing

453-511: A curved mirror in place of the objective lens, theory preceded practice. The theoretical basis for curved mirrors behaving similar to lenses was probably established by Alhazen , whose theories had been widely disseminated in Latin translations of his work. Soon after the invention of the refracting telescope, Galileo, Giovanni Francesco Sagredo , and others, spurred on by their knowledge that curved mirrors had similar properties to lenses, discussed

604-481: A focal point ; while those not parallel converge upon a focal plane . The telescope converts a bundle of parallel rays to make an angle α, with the optical axis to a second parallel bundle with angle β. The ratio β/α is called the angular magnification. It equals the ratio between the retinal image sizes obtained with and without the telescope. Refracting telescopes can come in many different configurations to correct for image orientation and types of aberration. Because

755-416: A focal ratio slower (bigger number) than f/12 is generally considered slow, and any telescope with a focal ratio faster (smaller number) than f/6, is considered fast. Faster systems often have more optical aberrations away from the center of the field of view and are generally more demanding of eyepiece designs than slower ones. A fast system is often desired for practical purposes in astrophotography with

906-519: A lunar eclipse , always illuminated by the Sun, but from Earth the visible illumination shifts during its orbit, producing the lunar phases . The Moon is the brightest celestial object in Earth's night sky . This is mainly due to its large angular diameter , while the reflectance of the lunar surface is comparable to that of asphalt . The apparent size is nearly the same as that of the Sun, allowing it to cover

1057-618: A pupil diameter of 7 mm. Younger persons host larger diameters, typically said to be 9 mm, as the diameter of the pupil decreases with age. An example gathering power of an aperture with 254 mm compared to an adult pupil diameter being 7 mm is given by: P = ( D D p ) 2 = ( 254 7 ) 2 ≈ 1316.7 {\displaystyle P=\left({\frac {D}{D_{p}}}\right)^{2}=\left({\frac {254}{7}}\right)^{2}\approx 1316.7} Light-gathering power can be compared between telescopes by comparing

1208-424: A "normal" or standard value of 7 mm for most adults aged 30–40, to 5–6 mm for retirees in their 60s and 70s. A lifetime spent exposed to chronically bright ambient light, such as sunlight reflected off of open fields of snow, or white-sand beaches, or cement, will tend to make individuals' pupils permanently smaller. Sunglasses greatly help, but once shrunk by long-time over-exposure to bright light, even

1359-424: A computer ( smartphone , pad , or laptop) is required to make astronomical observations from the telescopes. The digital technology allows multiple images to be stacked while subtracting the noise component of the observation producing images of Messier objects and faint stars as dim as an apparent magnitude of 15 with consumer-grade equipment. The basic scheme is that the primary light-gathering element,

1510-428: A couple of years. Apochromatic refractors have objectives built with special, extra-low dispersion materials. They are designed to bring three wavelengths (typically red, green, and blue) into focus in the same plane. The residual color error (tertiary spectrum) can be an order of magnitude less than that of an achromatic lens. Such telescopes contain elements of fluorite or special, extra-low dispersion (ED) glass in

1661-425: A decisive role on local surface temperatures . Parts of many craters, particularly the bottoms of many polar craters, are permanently shadowed, these " craters of eternal darkness " have extremely low temperatures. The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter measured the lowest summer temperatures in craters at the southern pole at 35 K (−238 °C; −397 °F) and just 26 K (−247 °C; −413 °F) close to

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1812-434: A few kilometers wide), shallower, and more irregularly shaped than impact craters. They also lack the upturned rims characteristic of impact craters. Several geologic provinces containing shield volcanoes and volcanic domes are found within the near side maria. There are also some regions of pyroclastic deposits , scoria cones and non-basaltic domes made of particularly high viscosity lava. Almost all maria are on

1963-404: A few weeks later by claims by Jacob Metius , and a third unknown applicant, that they also knew of this "art". Word of the invention spread fast and Galileo Galilei , on hearing of the device, was making his own improved designs within a year and was the first to publish astronomical results using a telescope. Galileo's telescope used a convex objective lens and a concave eye lens , a design

2114-400: A focus in a shorter distance. In astronomy, the f-number is commonly referred to as the focal ratio notated as N {\displaystyle N} . The focal ratio of a telescope is defined as the focal length f {\displaystyle f} of an objective divided by its diameter D {\displaystyle D} or by the diameter of an aperture stop in

2265-503: A global dipolar magnetic field and only has crustal magnetization likely acquired early in its history when a dynamo was still operating. Early in its history, 4 billion years ago, its magnetic field strength was likely close to that of Earth today. This early dynamo field apparently expired by about one billion years ago, after the lunar core had crystallized. Theoretically, some of the remnant magnetization may originate from transient magnetic fields generated during large impacts through

2416-718: A hospitable environment for future astronauts, protecting them from extreme temperatures, solar radiation, and micrometeorites. However, challenges include accessibility and risks of avalanches and cave-ins. This discovery offers potential for future lunar bases or emergency shelters. The main features visible from Earth by the naked eye are dark and relatively featureless lunar plains called maria (singular mare ; Latin for "seas", as they were once believed to be filled with water) are vast solidified pools of ancient basaltic lava. Although similar to terrestrial basalts, lunar basalts have more iron and no minerals altered by water. The majority of these lava deposits erupted or flowed into

2567-476: A hypothesized Mars-sized body called Theia . The lunar surface is covered in lunar dust and marked by mountains , impact craters , their ejecta , ray-like streaks , rilles and, mostly on the near side of the Moon, by dark maria ("seas"), which are plains of cooled lava . These maria were formed when molten lava flowed into ancient impact basins. The Moon is, except when passing through Earth's shadow during

2718-528: A landscape featuring craters of all ages. The Moon was volcanically active until 1.2 billion years ago, which laid down the prominent lunar maria . Most of the mare basalts erupted during the Imbrian period , 3.3–3.7 billion years ago, though some are as young as 1.2 billion years and some as old as 4.2 billion years. There are differing explanations for the eruption of mare basalts, particularly their uneven occurrence which mainly appear on

2869-406: A larger field of view. Design specifications relate to the characteristics of the telescope and how it performs optically. Several properties of the specifications may change with the equipment or accessories used with the telescope; such as Barlow lenses , star diagonals and eyepieces . These interchangeable accessories do not alter the specifications of the telescope, however they alter the way

3020-404: A limit related to something called the exit pupil . The exit pupil is the cylinder of light exiting the eyepiece and entering the pupil of the eye; hence the lower the magnification , the larger the exit pupil . It is the image of the shrunken sky-viewing aperture of the telescope, reduced by the magnification factor,   M   , {\displaystyle \ M\ ,} of

3171-402: A minimum and maximum. A wider field of view eyepiece may be used to keep the same eyepiece focal length whilst providing the same magnification through the telescope. For a good quality telescope operating in good atmospheric conditions, the maximum usable magnification is limited by diffraction. The visual magnification M {\displaystyle M} of the field of view through

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3322-463: A more convenient viewing location, and in that case the image is erect, but still reversed left to right. In terrestrial telescopes such as spotting scopes , monoculars and binoculars , prisms (e.g., Porro prisms ) or a relay lens between objective and eyepiece are used to correct the image orientation. There are telescope designs that do not present an inverted image such as the Galilean refractor and

3473-399: A multitude of lenses that increase or decrease effective focal length. The quality of the image generally depends on the quality of the optics (lenses) and viewing conditions—not on magnification. Magnification itself is limited by optical characteristics. With any telescope or microscope, beyond a practical maximum magnification, the image looks bigger but shows no more detail. It occurs when

3624-532: A narrow field of view. Despite these flaws, the telescope was still good enough for Galileo to explore the sky. He used it to view craters on the Moon , the four largest moons of Jupiter , and the phases of Venus . Parallel rays of light from a distant object ( y ) would be brought to a focus in the focal plane of the objective lens ( F′ L1 / y′ ). The (diverging) eyepiece ( L2 ) lens intercepts these rays and renders them parallel once more. Non-parallel rays of light from

3775-493: A non-inverted (i.e., upright) image. Galileo's most powerful telescope, with a total length of 980 millimeters (39 in; 3 ft 3 in; 1.07 yd; 98 cm; 9.8 dm; 0.98 m), magnified objects about 30 times. Galileo had to work with the poor lens technology of the time, and found he had to use aperture stops to reduce the diameter of the objective lens (increase its focal ratio ) to limit aberrations, so his telescope produced blurry and distorted images with

3926-428: A radius of about 500 kilometres (310 mi). This structure is thought to have developed through the fractional crystallization of a global magma ocean shortly after the Moon's formation 4.5 billion years ago. Crystallization of this magma ocean would have created a mafic mantle from the precipitation and sinking of the minerals olivine , clinopyroxene , and orthopyroxene ; after about three-quarters of

4077-517: A refracting telescope appeared in the Netherlands about 1608, when a spectacle maker from Middelburg named Hans Lippershey unsuccessfully tried to patent one. News of the patent spread fast and Galileo Galilei , happening to be in Venice in the month of May 1609, heard of the invention, constructed a version of his own , and applied it to making astronomical discoveries. All refracting telescopes use

4228-562: A refracting telescope is around 1 meter (39 in). There is a further problem of glass defects, striae or small air bubbles trapped within the glass. In addition, glass is opaque to certain wavelengths , and even visible light is dimmed by reflection and absorption when it crosses the air-glass interfaces and passes through the glass itself. Most of these problems are avoided or diminished in reflecting telescopes , which can be made in far larger apertures and which have all but replaced refractors for astronomical research. The ISS-WAC on

4379-454: A satellite with similar mass and iron content to the Moon into orbit far outside Earth's Roche limit . Even satellites that initially pass within the Roche limit can reliably and predictably survive, by being partially stripped and then torqued onto wider, stable orbits. On November 1, 2023, scientists reported that, according to computer simulations, remnants of Theia could still be present inside

4530-467: A study of Ina , a tiny depression in Lacus Felicitatis , found jagged, relatively dust-free features that, because of the lack of erosion by infalling debris, appeared to be only 2 million years old. Moonquakes and releases of gas indicate continued lunar activity. Evidence of recent lunar volcanism has been identified at 70 irregular mare patches , some less than 50 million years old. This raises

4681-531: A survey of a given area, the field of view is just as important as raw light gathering power. Survey telescopes such as the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope try to maximize the product of mirror area and field of view (or etendue ) rather than raw light gathering ability alone. The magnification through a telescope makes an object appear larger while limiting the FOV. Magnification is often misleading as

Refracting telescope - Misplaced Pages Continue

4832-402: A telescope can be determined by the telescope's focal length f {\displaystyle f} divided by the eyepiece focal length f e {\displaystyle f_{e}} (or diameter). The maximum is limited by the focal length of the eyepiece . An example of visual magnification using a telescope with a 1200 mm focal length and 3 mm eyepiece

4983-502: A texture resembling snow and a scent resembling spent gunpowder . The regolith of older surfaces is generally thicker than for younger surfaces: it varies in thickness from 10–15 m (33–49 ft) in the highlands and 4–5 m (13–16 ft) in the maria. Beneath the finely comminuted regolith layer is the megaregolith , a layer of highly fractured bedrock many kilometers thick. These extreme conditions are considered to make it unlikely for spacecraft to harbor bacterial spores at

5134-439: A trans-Atlantic flight, 200 times more than on Earth's surface. For further comparison radiation on a flight to Mars is about 1.84 millisieverts per day and on Mars on average 0.64 millisieverts per day, with some locations on Mars possibly having levels as low as 0.342 millisieverts per day. The Moon's axial tilt with respect to the ecliptic is only 1.5427°, much less than the 23.44° of Earth. Because of this small tilt,

5285-518: Is 1.2% that of the Earth, and its diameter is 3,474 km (2,159 mi), roughly one-quarter of Earth's (about as wide as the United States from coast to coast ). Within the Solar System , it is the largest and most massive satellite in relation to its parent planet , the fifth largest and most massive moon overall, and larger and more massive than all known dwarf planets . Its surface gravity

5436-407: Is about one sixth of Earth's, about half of that of Mars , and the second highest among all Solar System moons, after Jupiter 's moon Io . The body of the Moon is differentiated and terrestrial , with no significant hydrosphere , atmosphere , or magnetic field . It formed 4.51 billion years ago, not long after Earth's formation , out of the debris from a giant impact between Earth and

5587-402: Is an improvement on Galileo's design. It uses a convex lens as the eyepiece instead of Galileo's concave one. The advantage of this arrangement is that the rays of light emerging from the eyepiece are converging. This allows for a much wider field of view and greater eye relief , but the image for the viewer is inverted. Considerably higher magnifications can be reached with this design, but, like

5738-489: Is around 3 × 10   atm (0.3  nPa ); it varies with the lunar day. Its sources include outgassing and sputtering , a product of the bombardment of lunar soil by solar wind ions. Elements that have been detected include sodium and potassium , produced by sputtering (also found in the atmospheres of Mercury and Io ); helium-4 and neon from the solar wind; and argon-40 , radon-222 , and polonium-210 , outgassed after their creation by radioactive decay within

5889-521: Is asymmetric, being more dense near the boundary between the Moon's dayside and nightside. Ionizing radiation from cosmic rays , the Sun and the resulting neutron radiation produce radiation levels on average of 1.369 millisieverts per day during lunar daytime , which is about 2.6 times more than on the International Space Station with 0.53 millisieverts per day at about 400 km above Earth in orbit, 5–10 times more than during

6040-619: Is directly related to the diameter (or aperture ) of its objective (the primary lens or mirror that collects and focuses the light), and its light-gathering power is related to the area of the objective. The larger the objective, the more light the telescope collects and the finer detail it resolves. People use optical telescopes (including monoculars and binoculars ) for outdoor activities such as observational astronomy , ornithology , pilotage , hunting and reconnaissance , as well as indoor/semi-outdoor activities such as watching performance arts and spectator sports . The telescope

6191-561: Is estimated from about 500 km (300 miles) to 1,737 km (1,079 miles). While the giant-impact theory explains many lines of evidence, some questions are still unresolved, most of which involve the Moon's composition. Models that have the Moon acquiring a significant amount of the proto-earth are more difficult to reconcile with geochemical data for the isotopes of zirconium, oxygen, silicon, and other elements. A study published in 2022, using high-resolution simulations (up to 10 particles), found that giant impacts can immediately place

Refracting telescope - Misplaced Pages Continue

6342-425: Is given by where λ {\displaystyle \lambda } is the wavelength and D {\displaystyle D} is the aperture. For visible light ( λ {\displaystyle \lambda } = 550 nm) in the small-angle approximation , this equation can be rewritten: Here, α R {\displaystyle \alpha _{R}} denotes

6493-479: Is given by:   M m i n = D   d e p =   254   7 ≈ 36 ×   . {\displaystyle \ M_{\mathsf {min}}={\frac {D}{\ d_{\mathsf {ep}}}}={\frac {\ 254\ }{7}}\approx 36\!\times ~.} If the telescope happened to have a 1 200 mm focal length (   L   {\displaystyle \ L\ } ),

6644-463: Is given by: M = f f e = 1200 3 = 400 {\displaystyle M={\frac {f}{f_{e}}}={\frac {1200}{3}}=400} There are two issues constraining the lowest useful magnification on a telescope: Both constraints boil down to approximately the same rule: The magnification of the viewed image,   M   , {\displaystyle \ M\ ,} must be high enough to make

6795-426: Is given by: R = λ 10 6 = 550 10 6 = 0.00055 {\displaystyle R={\frac {\lambda }{10^{6}}}={\frac {550}{10^{6}}}=0.00055} . The constant Φ {\displaystyle \Phi } is derived from radians to the same unit as the object's apparent diameter ; where the Moon's apparent diameter of D

6946-430: Is ground and polished , and then the two pieces are assembled together. Achromatic lenses are corrected to bring two wavelengths (typically red and blue) into focus in the same plane. Chester More Hall is noted as having made the first twin color corrected lens in 1730. Dollond achromats were quite popular in the 18th century. A major appeal was they could be made shorter. However, problems with glass making meant that

7097-427: Is likely to show considerable color fringing (generally a purple halo around bright objects); an f / 16 achromat has much less color fringing. In very large apertures, there is also a problem of lens sagging , a result of gravity deforming glass . Since a lens can only be held in place by its edge, the center of a large lens sags due to gravity, distorting the images it produces. The largest practical lens size in

7248-431: Is more a discovery of optical craftsmen than an invention of a scientist. The lens and the properties of refracting and reflecting light had been known since antiquity , and theory on how they worked was developed by ancient Greek philosophers, preserved and expanded on in the medieval Islamic world , and had reached a significantly advanced state by the time of the telescope's invention in early modern Europe . But

7399-643: Is now called a Galilean telescope . Johannes Kepler proposed an improvement on the design that used a convex eyepiece , often called the Keplerian Telescope . The next big step in the development of refractors was the advent of the Achromatic lens in the early 18th century, which corrected the chromatic aberration in Keplerian telescopes up to that time—allowing for much shorter instruments with much larger objectives. For reflecting telescopes , which use

7550-440: Is on average about 1.9 km (1.2 mi) higher than that of the near side. The discovery of fault scarp cliffs suggest that the Moon has shrunk by about 90 metres (300 ft) within the past billion years. Similar shrinkage features exist on Mercury . Mare Frigoris, a basin near the north pole long assumed to be geologically dead, has cracked and shifted. Since the Moon does not have tectonic plates, its tectonic activity

7701-477: Is simply Moon , with a capital M. The noun moon is derived from Old English mōna , which (like all its Germanic cognates) stems from Proto-Germanic *mēnōn , which in turn comes from Proto-Indo-European *mēnsis 'month' (from earlier *mēnōt , genitive *mēneses ) which may be related to the verb 'measure' (of time). Occasionally, the name Luna / ˈ l uː n ə / is used in scientific writing and especially in science fiction to distinguish

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7852-571: Is slow and cracks develop as it loses heat. Scientists have confirmed the presence of a cave on the Moon near the Sea of Tranquillity , not far from the 1969 Apollo 11 landing site. The cave, identified as an entry point to a collapsed lava tube, is roughly 45 meters wide and up to 80 m long. This discovery marks the first confirmed entry point to a lunar cave. The analysis was based on photos taken in 2010 by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter . The cave's stable temperature of around 17 °C could provide

8003-650: Is the Shuckburgh telescope (dating to the late 1700s). A famous refractor was the "Trophy Telescope", presented at the 1851 Great Exhibition in London. The era of the ' great refractors ' in the 19th century saw large achromatic lenses, culminating with the largest achromatic refractor ever built, the Great Paris Exhibition Telescope of 1900 . In the Royal Observatory, Greenwich an 1838 instrument named

8154-400: Is the ability of a telescope to collect a lot more light than the human eye. Its light-gathering power is probably its most important feature. The telescope acts as a light bucket , collecting all of the photons that come down on it from a far away object, where a larger bucket catches more photons resulting in more received light in a given time period, effectively brightening the image. This

8305-476: Is the lowest point on the surface of the Moon. The highest elevations of the Moon's surface are located directly to the northeast, which might have been thickened by the oblique formation impact of the South Pole–Aitken basin. Other large impact basins such as Imbrium , Serenitatis , Crisium , Smythii , and Orientale possess regionally low elevations and elevated rims. The far side of the lunar surface

8456-412: Is why the pupils of your eyes enlarge at night so that more light reaches the retinas. The gathering power P {\displaystyle P} compared against a human eye is the squared result of the division of the aperture D {\displaystyle D} over the observer's pupil diameter D p {\displaystyle D_{p}} , with an average adult having

8607-543: The Galilean satellites of Jupiter in 1610 with a refracting telescope. The planet Saturn's moon, Titan , was discovered on March 25, 1655, by the Dutch astronomer Christiaan Huygens . In 1861, the brightest star in the night sky, Sirius, was found to have smaller stellar companion using the 18 and half-inch Dearborn refracting telescope. By the 18th century refractors began to have major competition from reflectors, which could be made quite large and did not normally suffer from

8758-530: The Gregorian reflector . These are referred to as erecting telescopes . Many types of telescope fold or divert the optical path with secondary or tertiary mirrors. These may be integral part of the optical design ( Newtonian telescope , Cassegrain reflector or similar types), or may simply be used to place the eyepiece or detector at a more convenient position. Telescope designs may also use specially designed additional lenses or mirrors to improve image quality over

8909-557: The Sheepshanks telescope includes an objective by Cauchoix. The Sheepshanks had a 6.7-inch (17 cm) wide lens, and was the biggest telescope at Greenwich for about twenty years. An 1840 report from the Observatory noted of the then-new Sheepshanks telescope with the Cauchoix doublet: The power and general goodness of this telescope make it a most welcome addition to the instruments of

9060-488: The Voyager 1 / 2 used a 6 centimetres (2.4 in) lens, launched into space in the late 1970s, an example of the use of refractors in space. Refracting telescopes were noted for their use in astronomy as well as for terrestrial viewing. Many early discoveries of the Solar System were made with singlet refractors. The use of refracting telescopic optics are ubiquitous in photography, and are also used in Earth orbit. One of

9211-444: The areas A {\displaystyle A} of the two different apertures. As an example, the light-gathering power of a 10-meter telescope is 25x that of a 2-meter telescope: p = A 1 A 2 = π 5 2 π 1 2 = 25 {\displaystyle p={\frac {A_{1}}{A_{2}}}={\frac {\pi 5^{2}}{\pi 1^{2}}}=25} For

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9362-431: The objective (1) (the convex lens or concave mirror used to gather the incoming light), focuses that light from the distant object (4) to a focal plane where it forms a real image (5). This image may be recorded or viewed through an eyepiece (2), which acts like a magnifying glass . The eye (3) then sees an inverted, magnified virtual image (6) of the object. Most telescope designs produce an inverted image at

9513-411: The 19th century, for most research purposes, the refracting telescope has been superseded by the reflecting telescope , which allows larger apertures . A refractor's magnification is calculated by dividing the focal length of the objective lens by that of the eyepiece . Refracting telescopes typically have a lens at the front, then a long tube , then an eyepiece or instrumentation at the rear, where

9664-501: The 19th century, long-lasting aluminum coatings in the 20th century, segmented mirrors to allow larger diameters, and active optics to compensate for gravitational deformation. A mid-20th century innovation was catadioptric telescopes such as the Schmidt camera , which uses both a lens (corrector plate) and mirror as primary optical elements, mainly used for wide field imaging without spherical aberration. The late 20th century has seen

9815-452: The Earth and the material accreted and formed the Moon just beyond the Earth's Roche limit of ~ 2.56  R 🜨 . Giant impacts are thought to have been common in the early Solar System. Computer simulations of giant impacts have produced results that are consistent with the mass of the lunar core and the angular momentum of the Earth–Moon system. These simulations show that most of

9966-464: The Earth's moon from others, while in poetry "Luna" has been used to denote personification of the Moon. Cynthia / ˈ s ɪ n θ i ə / is another poetic name, though rare, for the Moon personified as a goddess, while Selene / s ə ˈ l iː n iː / (literally 'Moon') is the Greek goddess of the Moon. The English adjective pertaining to the Moon is lunar , derived from the Latin word for

10117-429: The Earth, due to gravitational anomalies from impact basins. Its shape is more elongated than current tidal forces can account for. This 'fossil bulge' indicates that the Moon solidified when it orbited at half its current distance to the Earth, and that it is now too cold for its shape to restore hydrostatic equilibrium at its current orbital distance. The Moon is by size and mass the fifth largest natural satellite of

10268-463: The Earth-Moon system might be explained by the post-impact mixing of the vaporized material that formed the two, although this is debated. The impact would have released enough energy to liquefy both the ejecta and the Earth's crust, forming a magma ocean. The liquefied ejecta could have then re-accreted into the Earth–Moon system. The newly formed Moon would have had its own magma ocean ; its depth

10419-530: The Earth. The newly formed Moon settled into a much closer Earth orbit than it has today. Each body therefore appeared much larger in the sky of the other, eclipses were more frequent, and tidal effects were stronger. Due to tidal acceleration , the Moon's orbit around Earth has become significantly larger, with a longer period. Following formation, the Moon has cooled and most of its atmosphere has been stripped. The lunar surface has since been shaped by large impact events and many small ones, forming

10570-450: The Galilean telescope, it still uses simple single element objective lens so needs to have a very high focal ratio to reduce aberrations ( Johannes Hevelius built an unwieldy f/225 telescope with a 200-millimetre (8 in) objective and a 46-metre (150 ft) focal length , and even longer tubeless " aerial telescopes " were constructed). The design also allows for use of a micrometer at

10721-499: The Moon approximately 10 minutes, taking 5 minutes to rise, and 5 minutes to fall. On average, 120 kilograms of dust are present above the Moon, rising up to 100 kilometers above the surface. Dust counts made by LADEE 's Lunar Dust EXperiment (LDEX) found particle counts peaked during the Geminid , Quadrantid , Northern Taurid , and Omicron Centaurid meteor showers , when the Earth, and Moon pass through comet debris. The lunar dust cloud

10872-458: The Moon derived from the impactor, rather than the proto-Earth. However, models from 2007 and later suggest a larger fraction of the Moon derived from the proto-Earth. Other bodies of the inner Solar System such as Mars and Vesta have, according to meteorites from them, very different oxygen and tungsten isotopic compositions compared to Earth. However, Earth and the Moon have nearly identical isotopic compositions. The isotopic equalization of

11023-489: The Moon for longer than just one lunar orbit. The topography of the Moon has been measured with laser altimetry and stereo image analysis . Its most extensive topographic feature is the giant far-side South Pole–Aitken basin , some 2,240 km (1,390 mi) in diameter, the largest crater on the Moon and the second-largest confirmed impact crater in the Solar System . At 13 km (8.1 mi) deep, its floor

11174-466: The Moon formed around 50 million years after the origin of the Solar System . Historically, several formation mechanisms have been proposed, but none satisfactorily explains the features of the Earth–Moon system. A fission of the Moon from Earth's crust through centrifugal force would require too great an initial rotation rate of Earth. Gravitational capture of a pre-formed Moon depends on an unfeasibly extended atmosphere of Earth to dissipate

11325-516: The Moon in a 550 nm wavelength , is given by: F = 2 R D ⋅ D o b ⋅ Φ D a = 2 ⋅ 0.00055 130 ⋅ 3474.2 ⋅ 206265 1878 ≈ 3.22 {\displaystyle F={\frac {{\frac {2R}{D}}\cdot D_{ob}\cdot \Phi }{D_{a}}}={\frac {{\frac {2\cdot 0.00055}{130}}\cdot 3474.2\cdot 206265}{1878}}\approx 3.22} The unit used in

11476-455: The Moon is a crescent\decrescent, [REDACTED] \ [REDACTED] , for example in M ☾ 'lunar mass' (also M L ). The lunar geological periods are named after their characteristic features, from most impact craters outside the dark mare , to the mare and later craters, and finally the young, still bright and therefore readily visible craters with ray systems like Copernicus or Tycho . Isotope dating of lunar samples suggests

11627-508: The Moon's solar illumination varies much less with season than on Earth and it allows for the existence of some peaks of eternal light at the Moon's north pole , at the rim of the crater Peary . The surface is exposed to drastic temperature differences ranging from 120 °C to −171 °C depending on the solar irradiance . Because of the lack of atmosphere, temperatures of different areas vary particularly upon whether they are in sunlight or shadow, making topographical details play

11778-403: The Moon, lūna . Selenian / s ə l iː n i ə n / is an adjective used to describe the Moon as a world, rather than as a celestial object, but its use is rare. It is derived from σελήνη selēnē , the Greek word for the Moon, and its cognate selenic was originally a rare synonym but now nearly always refers to the chemical element selenium . The element name selenium and

11929-484: The Solar System relative to their primary planets. The Moon's diameter is about 3,500 km, more than a quarter of Earth's, with the face of the Moon comparable to the width of either Mainland Australia , Europe or the Contiguous United States (which excludes Alaska , etc.). The whole surface area of the Moon is about 38 million square kilometers, comparable to North and South America combined,

12080-461: The Solar System, categorizable as one of its planetary-mass moons , making it a satellite planet under the geophysical definitions of the term . It is smaller than Mercury and considerably larger than the largest dwarf planet of the Solar System, Pluto . While the minor-planet moon Charon of the Pluto-Charon system is larger relative to Pluto, the Moon is the largest natural satellite of

12231-426: The Sun completely during a total solar eclipse . From Earth about 59% of the lunar surface is visible over time due to cyclical shifts in perspective ( libration ), making parts of the far side of the Moon visible. The Moon has been an important source of inspiration and knowledge for humans, having been crucial to cosmography , mythology, religion , art, time keeping , natural science , and spaceflight . In 1959,

12382-595: The binary star Mintaka in Orion, that there was the element calcium in the intervening space. Planet Pluto was discovered by looking at photographs (i.e. 'plates' in astronomy vernacular) in a blink comparator taken with a refracting telescope, an astrograph with a 3 element 13-inch lens. Examples of some of the largest achromatic refracting telescopes, over 60 cm (24 in) diameter. Optical telescope There are three primary types of optical telescope: An optical telescope's ability to resolve small details

12533-426: The bright cores of active galaxies . The focal length of an optical system is a measure of how strongly the system converges or diverges light . For an optical system in air, it is the distance over which initially collimated rays are brought to a focus. A system with a shorter focal length has greater optical power than one with a long focal length; that is, it bends the rays more strongly, bringing them to

12684-461: The captured light gets into the eye. The minimum   M m i n   {\displaystyle \ M_{\mathsf {min}}\ } can be calculated by dividing the telescope aperture   D   {\displaystyle \ D\ } over the largest tolerated exit pupil diameter   d e p   . {\displaystyle \ d_{\mathsf {ep}}~.} Decreasing

12835-413: The combined American landmass having an area (excluding all islands) of 37.7 million square kilometers. The Moon's mass is 1/81 of Earth's, being the second densest among the planetary moons, and having the second highest surface gravity , after Io , at 0.1654  g and an escape velocity of 2.38 km/s ( 8 600  km/h; 5 300  mph) . The Moon is a differentiated body that

12986-402: The constant Φ {\displaystyle \Phi } all divided by the objects apparent diameter D a {\displaystyle D_{a}} . Resolving power R {\displaystyle R} is derived from the wavelength λ {\displaystyle {\lambda }} using the same unit as aperture; where 550 nm to mm

13137-433: The crust and mantle. The absence of such neutral species (atoms or molecules) as oxygen , nitrogen , carbon , hydrogen and magnesium , which are present in the regolith , is not understood. Water vapor has been detected by Chandrayaan-1 and found to vary with latitude, with a maximum at ~60–70 degrees; it is possibly generated from the sublimation of water ice in the regolith. These gases either return into

13288-447: The dense mare basaltic lava flows that fill those basins. The anomalies greatly influence the orbit of spacecraft about the Moon. There are some puzzles: lava flows by themselves cannot explain all of the gravitational signature, and some mascons exist that are not linked to mare volcanism. The Moon has an external magnetic field of less than 0.2 nanoteslas , or less than one hundred thousandth that of Earth . The Moon does not have

13439-514: The depressions associated with impact basins , though the Moon's largest expanse of basalt flooding, Oceanus Procellarum , does not correspond to an obvious impact basin. Different episodes of lava flows in maria can often be recognized by variations in surface albedo and distinct flow margins. As the maria formed, cooling and contraction of the basaltic lava created wrinkle ridges in some areas. These low, sinuous ridges can extend for hundreds of kilometers and often outline buried structures within

13590-496: The development of adaptive optics and space telescopes to overcome the problems of astronomical seeing . The electronics revolution of the early 21st century led to the development of computer-connected telescopes in the 2010s that allow non-professional skywatchers to observe stars and satellites using relatively low-cost equipment by taking advantage of digital astrophotographic techniques developed by professional astronomers over previous decades. An electronic connection to

13741-492: The diameter of Earth. Tidal forces between Earth and the Moon have synchronized the Moon's orbital period ( lunar month ) with its rotation period ( lunar day ) at 29.5 Earth days, causing the same side of the Moon to always face Earth. The Moon's gravitational pull—and, to a lesser extent, the Sun 's—are the main drivers of Earth's tides . In geophysical terms , the Moon is a planetary-mass object or satellite planet . Its mass

13892-468: The energy of the passing Moon. A co-formation of Earth and the Moon together in the primordial accretion disk does not explain the depletion of metals in the Moon. None of these hypotheses can account for the high angular momentum of the Earth–Moon system. The prevailing theory is that the Earth–Moon system formed after a giant impact of a Mars -sized body (named Theia ) with the proto-Earth . The oblique impact blasted material into orbit about

14043-422: The expansion of plasma clouds. These clouds are generated during large impacts in an ambient magnetic field. This is supported by the location of the largest crustal magnetizations situated near the antipodes of the giant impact basins. The Moon has an atmosphere so tenuous as to be nearly vacuum , with a total mass of less than 10 tonnes (9.8 long tons; 11 short tons). The surface pressure of this small mass

14194-1182: The exposed ones. Conversely, mare lava has obscured many impact melt sheets and pools. Impact melts are formed when intense shock pressures from collisions vaporize and melt zones around the impact site. Where still exposed, impact melt can be distinguished from mare lava by its distribution, albedo, and texture. Sinuous rilles , found in and around maria, are likely extinct lava channels or collapsed lava tubes . They typically originate from volcanic vents , meandering and sometimes branching as they progress. The largest examples, such as Schroter's Valley and Rima Hadley , are significantly longer, wider, and deeper than terrestrial lava channels, sometimes featuring bends and sharp turns that again, are uncommon on Earth. Mare volcanism has altered impact craters in various ways, including filling them to varying degrees, and raising and fracturing their floors from uplift of mare material beneath their interiors. Examples of such craters include Taruntius and Gassendi . Some craters, such as Hyginus , are of wholly volcanic origin, forming as calderas or collapse pits . Such craters are relatively rare, and tend to be smaller (typically

14345-446: The eyepiece exit pupil,   d e p   , {\displaystyle \ d_{\mathsf {ep}}\ ,} no larger than the pupil of the observer's own eye. The formula for the eypiece exit pupil is where   D   {\displaystyle \ D\ } is the light-collecting diameter of the telescope's aperture. Dark-adapted pupil sizes range from 8–9 mm for young children, to

14496-439: The eyepiece-telescope combination: where   L   {\displaystyle \ L\ } is the focal length of the telescope and   ℓ   {\displaystyle \ \ell \ } is the focal length of the eyepiece. Ideally, the exit pupil of the eyepiece,   d e p   , {\displaystyle \ d_{\mathsf {ep}}\ ,} matches

14647-628: The famous triplet objectives is the Cooke triplet , noted for being able to correct the Seidal aberrations. It is recognized as one of the most important objective designs in the field of photography. The Cooke triplet can correct, with only three elements, for one wavelength, spherical aberration , coma , astigmatism , field curvature , and distortion . Refractors suffer from residual chromatic and spherical aberration . This affects shorter focal ratios more than longer ones. An f /6 achromatic refractor

14798-440: The finest detail the instrument can resolve is magnified to match the finest detail the eye can see. Magnification beyond this maximum is sometimes called empty magnification . To get the most detail out of a telescope, it is critical to choose the right magnification for the object being observed. Some objects appear best at low power, some at high power, and many at a moderate magnification. There are two values for magnification,

14949-504: The first human-made objects to leave Earth and reach another body arrived at the Moon, with the flyby of the Soviet Union 's Luna 1 and the intentional impact of Luna 2 . In 1966, the Moon became the first extraterrestrial body with a soft landing by Luna 9 and a orbital insertion by Luna 10 were achieved . On July 20, 1969, humans for the first time landed on the Moon and any extraterrestrial body, at Mare Tranquillitatis with

15100-454: The first practical reflecting telescopes, the Newtonian telescope , in 1668 although due to their difficulty of construction and the poor performance of the speculum metal mirrors used it took over 100 years for reflectors to become popular. Many of the advances in reflecting telescopes included the perfection of parabolic mirror fabrication in the 18th century, silver coated glass mirrors in

15251-427: The flood lavas that erupted onto the surface from partial melting in the mantle confirm the mafic mantle composition, which is more iron-rich than that of Earth. The crust is on average about 50 kilometres (31 mi) thick. The Moon is the second-densest satellite in the Solar System, after Io . However, the inner core of the Moon is small, with a radius of about 350 kilometres (220 mi) or less, around 20% of

15402-435: The focal plane (to determine the angular size and/or distance between objects observed). Huygens built an aerial telescope for Royal Society of London with a 19 cm (7.5″) single-element lens. The next major step in the evolution of refracting telescopes was the invention of the achromatic lens , a lens with multiple elements that helped solve problems with chromatic aberration and allowed shorter focal lengths. It

15553-405: The focal plane; these are referred to as inverting telescopes . In fact, the image is both turned upside down and reversed left to right, so that altogether it is rotated by 180 degrees from the object orientation. In astronomical telescopes the rotated view is normally not corrected, since it does not affect how the telescope is used. However, a mirror diagonal is often used to place the eyepiece in

15704-564: The glass objectives were not made more than about four inches (10 cm) in diameter. In the late 19th century, the Swiss optician Pierre-Louis Guinand developed a way to make higher quality glass blanks of greater than four inches (10 cm). He passed this technology to his apprentice Joseph von Fraunhofer , who further developed this technology and also developed the Fraunhofer doublet lens design. The breakthrough in glass making techniques led to

15855-565: The great refractors of the 19th century, that became progressively larger through the decade, eventually reaching over 1 meter by the end of that century before being superseded by silvered-glass reflecting telescopes in astronomy. Noted lens makers of the 19th century include: Some famous 19th century doublet refractors are the James Lick telescope (91 cm/36 in) and the Greenwich 28 inch refractor (71 cm). An example of an older refractor

16006-500: The idea of building a telescope using a mirror as the image forming objective. The potential advantages of using parabolic mirrors (primarily a reduction of spherical aberration with elimination of chromatic aberration ) led to several proposed designs for reflecting telescopes, the most notable of which was published in 1663 by James Gregory and came to be called the Gregorian telescope , but no working models were built. Isaac Newton has been generally credited with constructing

16157-413: The image by turbulence in the atmosphere ( atmospheric seeing ) and optical imperfections of the telescope, the angular resolution of an optical telescope is determined by the diameter of the primary mirror or lens gathering the light (also termed its "aperture"). The Rayleigh criterion for the resolution limit α R {\displaystyle \alpha _{R}} (in radians )

16308-421: The image was formed by the bending of light, or refraction, these telescopes are called refracting telescopes or refractors . The design Galileo Galilei used c.  1609 is commonly called a Galilean telescope . It used a convergent (plano-convex) objective lens and a divergent (plano-concave) eyepiece lens (Galileo, 1610). A Galilean telescope, because the design has no intermediary focus, results in

16459-467: The lander Eagle of the United States ' Apollo 11 mission. Five more crews were sent between then and 1972, each with two men landing on the surface. The longest stay was 75 hours by the Apollo 17 crew. Since then, exploration of the Moon has continued robotically, and crewed missions are being planned to return beginning in the late 2020s. The usual English proper name for Earth's natural satellite

16610-409: The larger the aperture, the better the angular resolution. The resolution is not given by the maximum magnification (or "power") of a telescope. Telescopes marketed by giving high values of the maximum power often deliver poor images. For large ground-based telescopes, the resolution is limited by atmospheric seeing . This limit can be overcome by placing the telescopes above the atmosphere, e.g., on

16761-528: The longest recommended eyepiece focal length (   ℓ   {\displaystyle \ \ell \ } ) would be   ℓ =   L   M ≈   1   200   m m   36 ≈ 33   m m   . {\displaystyle \ \ell ={\frac {\ L\ }{M}}\approx {\frac {\ 1\ 200{\mathsf {\ mm\ }}}{36}}\approx 33{\mathsf {\ mm}}~.} An eyepiece of

16912-421: The magma ocean had crystallized, lower-density plagioclase minerals could form and float into a crust atop. The final liquids to crystallize would have been initially sandwiched between the crust and mantle, with a high abundance of incompatible and heat-producing elements. Consistent with this perspective, geochemical mapping made from orbit suggests a crust of mostly anorthosite . The Moon rock samples of

17063-405: The magnification past this limit will not increase brightness nor improve clarity: Beyond this limit there is no benefit from lower magnification. Likewise calculating the exit pupil   d e p   {\displaystyle \ d_{\mathsf {ep}}\ } is a division of the aperture diameter   D   {\displaystyle \ D\ } and

17214-516: The mantle could be responsible for prolonged activities on the far side in the Orientale basin. The lighter-colored regions of the Moon are called terrae , or more commonly highlands , because they are higher than most maria. They have been radiometrically dated to having formed 4.4 billion years ago, and may represent plagioclase cumulates of the lunar magma ocean. In contrast to Earth, no major lunar mountains are believed to have formed as

17365-406: The mare. Another result of maria formation is the creation of concentric depressions along the edges, known as arcuate rilles . These features occur as the mare basalts sink inward under their own weight, causing the edges to fracture and separate. In addition to the visible maria, the Moon has mare deposits covered by ejecta from impacts. Called cryptomares, these hidden mares are likely older than

17516-408: The more famous applications of the refracting telescope was when Galileo used it to discover the four largest moons of Jupiter in 1609. Furthermore, early refractors were also used several decades later to discover Titan, the largest moon of Saturn, along with three more of Saturn's moons. In the 19th century, refracting telescopes were used for pioneering work on astrophotography and spectroscopy, and

17667-557: The most significant step cited in the invention of the telescope was the development of lens manufacture for spectacles , first in Venice and Florence in the thirteenth century, and later in the spectacle making centers in both the Netherlands and Germany. It is in the Netherlands in 1608 where the first documents describing a refracting optical telescope surfaced in the form of a patent filed by spectacle maker Hans Lippershey , followed

17818-524: The near side of the Moon, and cover 31% of the surface of the near side compared with 2% of the far side. This is likely due to a concentration of heat-producing elements under the crust on the near side, which would have caused the underlying mantle to heat up, partially melt, rise to the surface and erupt. Most of the Moon's mare basalts erupted during the Imbrian period , 3.3–3.7 billion years ago, though some being as young as 1.2 billion years and as old as 4.2 billion years. In 2006,

17969-440: The near-side. Causes of the distribution of the lunar highlands on the far side are also not well understood. Topological measurements show the near side crust is thinner than the far side. One possible scenario then is that large impacts on the near side may have made it easier for lava to flow onto the surface. The Moon is a very slightly scalene ellipsoid due to tidal stretching, with its long axis displaced 30° from facing

18120-445: The object diameter results in the smallest resolvable features at that unit. In the above example they are approximated in kilometers resulting in the smallest resolvable Moon craters being 3.22 km in diameter. The Hubble Space Telescope has a primary mirror aperture of 2400 mm that provides a surface resolvability of Moon craters being 174.9 meters in diameter, or sunspots of 7365.2 km in diameter. Ignoring blurring of

18271-448: The object traveling at an angle α1 to the optical axis travel at a larger angle ( α2 > α1 ) after they passed through the eyepiece. This leads to an increase in the apparent angular size and is responsible for the perceived magnification. The final image ( y″ ) is a virtual image, located at infinity and is the same way up (i.e., non-inverted or upright) as the object. The Keplerian telescope , invented by Johannes Kepler in 1611,

18422-431: The objective and produce a very crisp image that is virtually free of chromatic aberration. Due to the special materials needed in the fabrication, apochromatic refractors are usually more expensive than telescopes of other types with a comparable aperture. In the 18th century, Dollond, a popular maker of doublet telescopes, also made a triplet, although they were not really as popular as the two element telescopes. One of

18573-468: The observatory In the 1900s a noted optics maker was Zeiss. An example of prime achievements of refractors, over 7 million people have been able to view through the 12-inch Zeiss refractor at Griffith Observatory since its opening in 1935; this is the most people to have viewed through any telescope. Achromats were popular in astronomy for making star catalogs, and they required less maintenance than metal mirrors. Some famous discoveries using achromats are

18724-403: The optical power of the telescope, its characteristic is the most misunderstood term used to describe the observable world. At higher magnifications the image quality significantly reduces, usage of a Barlow lens increases the effective focal length of an optical system—multiplies image quality reduction. Similar minor effects may be present when using star diagonals , as light travels through

18875-461: The physical area that can be resolved. A familiar way to express the characteristic is the resolvable ability of features such as Moon craters or Sun spots. Expression using the formula is given by twice the resolving power R {\displaystyle R} over aperture diameter D {\displaystyle D} multiplied by the objects diameter D o b {\displaystyle D_{ob}} multiplied by

19026-513: The planet Neptune and the Moons of Mars . The long achromats, despite having smaller aperture than the larger reflectors, were often favored for "prestige" observatories. In the late 18th century, every few years, a larger and longer refractor would debut. For example, the Nice Observatory debuted with 77-centimeter (30.31 in) refractor, the largest at the time, but was surpassed within only

19177-432: The possibility of a much warmer lunar mantle than previously believed, at least on the near side where the deep crust is substantially warmer because of the greater concentration of radioactive elements. Evidence has been found for 2–10 million years old basaltic volcanism within the crater Lowell, inside the Orientale basin. Some combination of an initially hotter mantle and local enrichment of heat-producing elements in

19328-424: The pre-1925 astronomical convention that began the day at noon, give the time of discovery as 11 August 14:40 and 17 August 16:06 Washington mean time respectively). The telescope used for the discovery was the 26-inch (66 cm) refractor (telescope with a lens) then located at Foggy Bottom . In 1893 the lens was remounted and put in a new dome, where it remains into the 21st century. Jupiter's moon Amalthea

19479-583: The prefix seleno- (as in selenography , the study of the physical features of the Moon) come from this Greek word. Artemis , the Greek goddess of the wilderness and the hunt, came to also be identified as the goddess of the Moon ( Selene ) and was sometimes called Cynthia , after her birthplace on Mount Cynthus . Her Roman equivalent is Diana . The names Luna, Cynthia, and Selene are reflected in technical terms for lunar orbits such as apolune , pericynthion and selenocentric . The astronomical symbol for

19630-424: The pupil of the observer's eye: If the exit pupil from the eyepiece is larger than the pupil of individual observer's eye, some of the light delivered from the telescope will be cut off. If the eyepiece exit pupil is the same or smaller than the pupil of the observer's eye, then all of the light collected by the telescope aperture will enter the eye, with lower magnification producing a brighter image, as long as all of

19781-543: The purpose of gathering more photons in a given time period than a slower system, allowing time lapsed photography to process the result faster. Wide-field telescopes (such as astrographs ), are used to track satellites and asteroids , for cosmic-ray research, and for astronomical surveys of the sky. It is more difficult to reduce optical aberrations in telescopes with low f-ratio than in telescopes with larger f-ratio. The light-gathering power of an optical telescope, also referred to as light grasp or aperture gain,

19932-436: The radius of the Moon. Its composition is not well understood, but is probably metallic iron alloyed with a small amount of sulfur and nickel; analyzes of the Moon's time-variable rotation suggest that it is at least partly molten. The pressure at the lunar core is estimated to be 5 GPa (49,000 atm). On average the Moon's surface gravity is 1.62  m/s ( 0.1654  g ; 5.318  ft/s ), about half of

20083-545: The refractors. Despite this, some discoveries include the Moons of Mars, a fifth Moon of Jupiter, and many double star discoveries including Sirius (the Dog star). Refractors were often used for positional astronomy, besides from the other uses in photography and terrestrial viewing. The Galilean moons and many other moons of the solar system, were discovered with single-element objectives and aerial telescopes. Galileo Galilei 's discovered

20234-471: The regolith because of the Moon's gravity or are lost to space, either through solar radiation pressure or, if they are ionized, by being swept away by the solar wind's magnetic field. Studies of Moon magma samples retrieved by the Apollo missions demonstrate that the Moon had once possessed a relatively thick atmosphere for a period of 70 million years between 3 and 4 billion years ago. This atmosphere, sourced from gases ejected from lunar volcanic eruptions,

20385-408: The related instrument, the heliometer, was used to calculate the distance to another star for the first time. Their modest apertures did not lead to as many discoveries and typically so small in aperture that many astronomical objects were simply not observable until the advent of long-exposure photography, by which time the reputation and quirks of reflecting telescopes were beginning to exceed those of

20536-448: The resolution limit in arcseconds and D {\displaystyle D} is in millimeters. In the ideal case, the two components of a double star system can be discerned even if separated by slightly less than α R {\displaystyle \alpha _{R}} . This is taken into account by the Dawes limit The equation shows that, all else being equal,

20687-527: The same apparent field-of-view but longer focal-length will deliver a wider true field of view, but dimmer image. If the telescope has a central obstruction (e.g. a Newtonian , Maksutov , or Schmidt–Cassegrain telescope ) it is also likely that the low magnification will make the obstruction come into focus enough to make a black spot in the middle of the image. Moon The Moon is Earth 's only natural satellite . It orbits at an average distance of 384,400 km (238,900 mi), about 30 times

20838-595: The same inherent problem with chromatic aberration. Nevertheless, the astronomical community continued to use doublet refractors of modest aperture in comparison to modern instruments. Noted discoveries include the Moons of Mars and a fifth moon of Jupiter, Amalthea . Asaph Hall discovered Deimos on 12 August 1877 at about 07:48 UTC and Phobos on 18 August 1877, at the US Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C. , at about 09:14 GMT (contemporary sources, using

20989-411: The same principles. The combination of an objective lens 1 and some type of eyepiece 2 is used to gather more light than the human eye is able to collect on its own, focus it 5 , and present the viewer with a brighter , clearer , and magnified virtual image 6 . The objective in a refracting telescope refracts or bends light . This refraction causes parallel light rays to converge at

21140-561: The summits of high mountains, on balloons and high-flying airplanes, or in space . Resolution limits can also be overcome by adaptive optics , speckle imaging or lucky imaging for ground-based telescopes. Recently, it has become practical to perform aperture synthesis with arrays of optical telescopes. Very high resolution images can be obtained with groups of widely spaced smaller telescopes, linked together by carefully controlled optical paths, but these interferometers can only be used for imaging bright objects such as stars or measuring

21291-455: The surface gravity of Mars and about a sixth of Earth's. The Moon's gravitational field is not uniform. The details of the gravitational field have been measured through tracking the Doppler shift of radio signals emitted by orbiting spacecraft. The main lunar gravity features are mascons , large positive gravitational anomalies associated with some of the giant impact basins, partly caused by

21442-756: The system. The focal length controls the field of view of the instrument and the scale of the image that is presented at the focal plane to an eyepiece , film plate, or CCD . An example of a telescope with a focal length of 1200 mm and aperture diameter of 254 mm is given by: N = f D = 1200 254 ≈ 4.7 {\displaystyle N={\frac {f}{D}}={\frac {1200}{254}}\approx 4.7} Numerically large Focal ratios are said to be long or slow . Small numbers are short or fast . There are no sharp lines for determining when to use these terms, and an individual may consider their own standards of determination. Among contemporary astronomical telescopes, any telescope with

21593-404: The telescope view comes to focus. Originally, telescopes had an objective of one element, but a century later, two and even three element lenses were made. Refracting telescopes use technology that has often been applied to other optical devices, such as binoculars and zoom lenses / telephoto lens / long-focus lens . Refractors were the earliest type of optical telescope . The first record of

21744-401: The telescope's properties function, typically magnification , apparent field of view (FOV) and actual field of view. The smallest resolvable surface area of an object, as seen through an optical telescope, is the limited physical area that can be resolved. It is analogous to angular resolution , but differs in definition: instead of separation ability between point-light sources it refers to

21895-408: The use of opthamalogic drugs cannot restore lost pupil size. Most observers' eyes instantly respond to darkness by widening the pupil to almost its maximum, although complete adaption to night vision generally takes at least a half-hour. (There is usually a slight extra widening of the pupil the longer the pupil remains dilated / relaxed.) The improvement in brightness with reduced magnification has

22046-415: The visual magnification   M   {\displaystyle \ M\ } used. The minimum often may not be reachable with some telescopes, a telescope with a very long focal length may require a longer focal length eyepiece than is available. An example of the lowest usable magnification using a fairly common 10″ (254 mm) aperture and the standard adult 7 mm maximum exit pupil

22197-446: The winter solstice in the north polar crater Hermite . This is the coldest temperature in the Solar System ever measured by a spacecraft, colder even than the surface of Pluto . Blanketed on top of the Moon's crust is a highly comminuted (broken into ever smaller particles) and impact gardened mostly gray surface layer called regolith , formed by impact processes. The finer regolith, the lunar soil of silicon dioxide glass, has

22348-434: Was discovered on 9 September 1892, by Edward Emerson Barnard using the 36 inches (91 cm) refractor telescope at Lick Observatory . It was discovered by direct visual observation with the doublet-lens refractor. In 1904, one of the discoveries made using Great Refractor of Potsdam (a double telescope with two doublets) was of the interstellar medium . The astronomer Professor Hartmann determined from observations of

22499-424: Was initially in hydrostatic equilibrium but has since departed from this condition. It has a geochemically distinct crust , mantle , and core . The Moon has a solid iron-rich inner core with a radius possibly as small as 240 kilometres (150 mi) and a fluid outer core primarily made of liquid iron with a radius of roughly 300 kilometres (190 mi). Around the core is a partially molten boundary layer with

22650-423: Was invented in 1733 by an English barrister named Chester Moore Hall , although it was independently invented and patented by John Dollond around 1758. The design overcame the need for very long focal lengths in refracting telescopes by using an objective made of two pieces of glass with different dispersion , ' crown ' and ' flint glass ', to reduce chromatic and spherical aberration . Each side of each piece

22801-401: Was twice the thickness of that of present-day Mars . The ancient lunar atmosphere was eventually stripped away by solar winds and dissipated into space. A permanent Moon dust cloud exists around the Moon, generated by small particles from comets. Estimates are 5 tons of comet particles strike the Moon's surface every 24 hours, resulting in the ejection of dust particles. The dust stays above

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