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Essay On Refractive Telescope

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Refractive telescopes are devices used to view distant objects as nearby images. First designed and built by Hans Lippershey in 1608, the refractive telescope follows physics concepts to view objects beyond the human eye.

Refraction is the bending of light through different media. A medium is something that light can pass through (e.g air, water). The incident ray, or incoming ray, will refract upon entering the medium, and again upon exiting. When this is an optically denser medium, the ray will refract towards the normal line. This bending, change of direction, is due to change in velocity. The bigger the change in velocity, the more light will refract.

The change of velocity of light travelling through two mediums is measured by its refractive index. The refractive index of a medium is the ratio of how fast light travels in a vacuum, compared to how fast it travels in another medium (n= v vacuum/v medium). We can compare the velocity of light in varying mediums to a vacuum as it is a space containing no matter, and will stay constant. The refractive index of a vacuum is 1.

Snell’s law …show more content…

However, this is dependant on the use of the telescope. Assuming it is used for astronomical viewing, an inverted image would not be an issue. An inverted star or planet would not be too important. If the refracting telescope is used for viewing words, or performing arts, an inverted image would be inconvenient and disadvantageous. A reflective telescope would be more suitable for this purpose.

Overall, refractive telescopes have proved to be quite useful throughout time. Galileo used it to discover many moons of Jupiter, and rings of Saturn. The original telescope used for this has made many advancements with the progression of technology, but the basic principles of physics still apply. Without this invention, we wouldn’t know nearly as much as we do about what lies beyond

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