IMG_2559r_L_s1024
"This telescope is focused on Keck I and Keck II at the summit of Mauna Kea
"(Please do not move or attempt to refocus the telescope)
"On a clear day through the eyepiece of this telescope you can see atop Mauna Kea the twin domes of the Keck telescopes, the world's largest. Keck I and II, unlike this telescope, do not have eyepieces. They collect information about our universe using solid-state detectors (SSDs), some of which are similar to--but much more sensitive than--those in your video camera. Various SSDs, which are sensitive to ultraviolet, visible or infrared light, together with a number of specialized instruments that attach to the telescope, and a complex system of computer hardware and software, combine to "see" into the outer regions of space. Astronomers spend their nights sitting in front of a bank of computer monitors because the SSDs gather data in digital form via computer control.
"The telescope you are looking through is a Newtonian reflector. Isaac Newton designed and constructed the first reflecting telescope in 1672, using a spherical mirror instead of lenses used in earlier refracting telescopes; however, the resulting spherical aberration (the same aberration that plagued the Hubble telescope in its early days) made it unusable. In 1723, John Hadley improve the technology by using a parabolic mirror, which alleviated the spherical aberration, and the reflector telescope became the most popular type telescope used. Today, each of the Keck telescopes uses a very large mirror (10 m wide) comprised of 36 mirror segments, which work together with the instruments and their SSDs, to gather astronomers' data."
IMG_2559r_L_s1024
"This telescope is focused on Keck I and Keck II at the summit of Mauna Kea
"(Please do not move or attempt to refocus the telescope)
"On a clear day through the eyepiece of this telescope you can see atop Mauna Kea the twin domes of the Keck telescopes, the world's largest. Keck I and II, unlike this telescope, do not have eyepieces. They collect information about our universe using solid-state detectors (SSDs), some of which are similar to--but much more sensitive than--those in your video camera. Various SSDs, which are sensitive to ultraviolet, visible or infrared light, together with a number of specialized instruments that attach to the telescope, and a complex system of computer hardware and software, combine to "see" into the outer regions of space. Astronomers spend their nights sitting in front of a bank of computer monitors because the SSDs gather data in digital form via computer control.
"The telescope you are looking through is a Newtonian reflector. Isaac Newton designed and constructed the first reflecting telescope in 1672, using a spherical mirror instead of lenses used in earlier refracting telescopes; however, the resulting spherical aberration (the same aberration that plagued the Hubble telescope in its early days) made it unusable. In 1723, John Hadley improve the technology by using a parabolic mirror, which alleviated the spherical aberration, and the reflector telescope became the most popular type telescope used. Today, each of the Keck telescopes uses a very large mirror (10 m wide) comprised of 36 mirror segments, which work together with the instruments and their SSDs, to gather astronomers' data."