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Telescope Design

Optics

Optics is an area of physics which looks at how light behaves and how we can observe it. 

This usually involves using mirrors and lenses to magnify, focus, and direct the path of light.

There is an illustration of a bulging lens on the left. A dashed line runs through the centre across the image. Two red parallel lines hit the lens towards the top and bottom and then become diagonal, crossing paths at a point labelled "F" some distance after the lens. This distance is noted with a black arrow labelled "f'".
This work by JiPaul (based on work by Henrik) is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike 4.0 International
Light (red lines) passing through a convex lens. The point at which the light meets (F') is called the focus. The distance from the lens to the focus (f') is called the focal length.

Telescopes Quiz

Telescopes are used to magnify distant objects. They are a vital tool for astronomy. Over the last few hundred years, scientists and engineers have built bigger and better telescopes, revealing the mysteries of the Universe. But how much do you know about telescopes on Earth and beyond?