It’s widely believed the telescope was first created in 1607 by a Dutch eyeglass maker Hans Lipperhey. He combined an objective lens with a smaller eyepiece lens inside a tube, allowing him to see distant objects more clearly. At the time, this device was known as the "Dutch perspective glass." An effort to patent the invention was rejected.
Seth Mayo, the curator of astronomy at the Lowman planetarium at Daytona Beach Museum of Arts and Sciences, recounts how scientists at the time took the tech skyward. “Galilei took these plans, and actually it was recorded that he heard the plans and within a day built his own telescope,” he said.
In 1609, Galileo pointed his telescope at the sky for the first time, transforming our understanding of the universe. He observed the moon, revealing details never seen before. Since then, telescopes have evolved.
Terry Oswalt the Associate Dean and Professor at Embry Riddle Aeronautical University, studies how stars evolve and age. Using telescopes in Arizona, Chile, and La Palma, researchers like him are able to observe stars remotely. Because La Palma is five hours ahead, they can start observations as early as 2 p.m. local time.
A key focus of Oswalt’s studies is on white dwarf stars which are remnants of older stars that fade over time. By measuring their temperature, scientists like Oswalt can determine the star’s age and, in turn, estimate the age of the galaxy.
Other than white dwarf stars, Oswalt works on other projects involving stars and the planets that orbit them – called exoplanets. Oswalt said 12 of his students are working on a project that “involves using the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) that NASA operates, along with our suite of one-meter-class telescopes across three continents and Kepler mission data, to monitor stars' activity levels, rotation rates, and flare rates—how often they brighten.”
Audrey Martin, a postdoctoral scholar at the University of Central Florida and the co-host of the podcast Walk About the Galaxy, explains how space-based telescopes, like the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), help overcome the limitations of ground-based telescopes by providing clearer views of distant objects in the solar system.
These images, Hubble on left and Webb on the right, show observations of the Didymos-Dimorphos system several hours after NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) intentionally impacted the moonlet asteroid. It was the world’s first test of the kinetic impact technique using a spacecraft to deflect an asteroid by modifying its orbit.
Both Webb and Hubble observed the asteroid before and after the collision took place.
Scientists will use the combined observations from Hubble and Webb to gain knowledge about the nature of the surface of Dimorphos, how much material was ejected by the collision, how fast it was ejected, and the distribution of particle sizes in the expanding dust cloud.
In the coming months, scientists will also use Webb’s Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) and Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) to observe ejecta from Dimorphos further. Spectroscopic data will provide researchers with insight into the asteroid’s composition. Hubble will monitor Dimorphos ten more times over the next three weeks to monitor how the ejecta cloud expands and fades over time.
Hubble observations were conducted in one filter, WFC3/UVIS F350LP (assigned the color blue), while Webb observed at F070W (0.7 microns, assigned the color red).
NIRCam was built by a team at the University of Arizona and Lockheed Martin’s Advanced Technology Center.
Martin’s research is primarily on asteroids, specifically Trojan asteroids that share Jupiter's orbit, and how spectroscopy helps scientists analyze their composition and history. Her findings reveal that these asteroids have unexpectedly fluffy surfaces, which was determined by studying their thermal emissions using JWST.
"With JWST, I got some observing time during the first cycle and was able to look at some of these Trojan asteroids,” Martin said. “What we found is that not only can we see the individual jiggling motions of the minerals on their surface—minerals like olivines and pyroxenes, which are also found on Earth, but we can also determine the structure of the regolith, the very fine particulate material covering these asteroids. And it turns out they're really fluffy."
The James Webb Space Telescope is currently operational in space, but it does not orbit around the Earth like the Hubble Space Telescope.
Meanwhile, ground based telescopes like the Kitt National Observatory give students valuable hands-on experiences in astronomy, preparing them for future research.
Oswalt explained the difference between Audrey’s work with JWST and the work he does with the Kitt National Observatory -- he has unlimited access to his telescopes. Plus, it can be accessed remotely over the internet. “We take students out to Kitt Peak National Observatory on internships where they learn first hood how telescopes and instrumentation really work,” Oswalt said.
Over time, telescopes evolved from ground-based devices to space telescopes like Hubble and the James Webb Space Telescope. Telescopes remain one of the most powerful tools in astronomy, helping experts uncover the Universe mysteries and expand understanding of space.
