Newtonian telescope is a kind of reflecting telescope that has a concave primary mirror and a flat secondary mirror. It is patterned after the telescope invented by Sir Isaac Newton, the famous British astronomer and scientist who during the 17th century. Sir Newton first invented this kind of telescope in 1668. His telescope had a simple yet functional design. Today, the Newtonian telescope is still very popular; it is not very hard to make, and therefore not as expensive as other, more sophisticated kinds of telescope.

In Newton’s time, there were already telescopes in use, but they were refracting ones, not the reflecting kind. They were not very effective because, due to the principle of refraction, they caused colors and images to become distorted. This phenomenon is called chromatic aberration, and Newton thought it could be eliminated if a telescope employed the principles of reflection instead of refraction. And so, using his knowledge of optics, mirrors and the color spectrum, and drawing upon earlier ideas put forth by scientists like Galileo Galilei and Giovanni Francesco Sagredo, Newton was able to produce the first reflecting telescope.

The first Newtonian telescope did not use any lens. Instead, it used mirrors that were shaped and ground to form an optical surface. It was revolutionary in that it used a secondary mirror that was diagonally mounted to reflect the image from the primary mirror at a precise ninety-degree angle. Because of this, the reflection had minimal obstruction and no chromatic aberration.

The telescope was a success. It could see as far as the moons of Jupiter. The invention earned Newton his admittance into the elite Royal Society of London.

Newtonian Telescope

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Sir William Huggins

William Huggins built his own private observatory in 90 Upper Tulse Hill South London, where he and his wife became immersed in extensive observations of the spectral emission lines and absorption lines of different celestial objects. Huggins made a huge contribution in astronomy by identifying the spectrum of planetary nebulae on his analysis of the NGC 6543. He distinguished the differences of the nebulae and the galaxies by presenting that nebulae, like the Orion nebula, displayed pure emission spectra characteristics of gas while the galaxies, like the Andromeda galaxy had a spectra characteristic of stars. He achieved this observation with the help of his neighbor William Allen Miller, who is a chemist. In the field of photography, he was the first to adopt the method of dry plate photography in imaging astronomical bodies.

Sir William Huggins, a knight commander of the Order of Bath, Order of Merit and a Fellow of the Royal Society received various admirable awards such as the Royal medal in 1866, Rumford medal in 1880, Henry Draper medal in 1901 and the Copley medal in 1898. He also delivered a Bakerian lecture, a prize lecture in the Royal Society, in 1885. He served as the president of the Fellow of the Royal Society from 1900 to 1905. Two craters were named after him, one that is lunar and the other a Martian crater. The Asteroid 2635 Huggins was also named in his honor.

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Sir Joseph Norman Lockyer

His works mainly involved the Sun and it was in this study that he investigated sunspots and solar prominences discovering in 1868 with Pierre Janssen. It was in this investigation that he made his most important discovery. He was able to successfully identify the spectral line then to be an unknown element observed by Janssen in the year 1868 and proposed to name it helium, from the Greek word helios, meaning Sun. The discovery of the element Helium was supported and confirmed by William Ramsay in the year 1895, when he successfully isolated the gases in the atmosphere, one of which includes the element Helium.

In the year 1869, Lockyer established the science journal Nature to help facilitate the sharing and circulation of ideas between different scientific disciplines. He remained to be its editor until shortly before his passing in the year 1920. In 1894, Lockyer published his first classic of what?s been called the astro-archaeology, The Dawn of Astronomy and in 1906 he produced another work entitled Stonehenge and Other British Monuments Astronomically Considered. He aimed to establish the fact that many ancient monuments were astronomically aligned. He was passionate about his works, paying regular trips to Egypt, Greece, the Stranding Stones of Britain and led several solar eclipse expeditions, few of which includes the expedition to Sicily (year 1870) and India (years 1871 and 1898).

Lockyer retired in the year 1911 and established an observatory near his home called Hill Observatory, located in Salcombe Regis near Sidmouth, Devon. After his date, it was renamed the Normal Lockyer Observatory to honor and remember his contributions to the scientific study of astronomy.

Joseph Norman Lockyer died at the age of eighty four in his home in Salcombe Regis on August 16, 1920. He is buried in the churchyard of St. Peter and St. Mary.

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Daniel Kirkwood

The following year, 1834, Kirkwood enrolled himself at the York County of Academy, at York Pennsylvania, majoring in Mathematics. After four years of mastering his major, he graduated and was immediately appointed first assistant and instructor in mathematics. He held this position for five years, until 1843, until he became Principal of the Lancaster Pennsylvania High School, and it was here in the year 1845 that he married his wife, Sarah A. McNair of Newton, Pennsylvania. And after another five years in Lancaster Pennsylvania, he moved to the Pottsville Academy in Pottsville, Pennsylvania, to become the Principal.

His teaching years extended for three decades more, in the year 1851, he became Professor of Mathematics in Delaware College, and again in Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana, where he remained until he retired in 1886, with the exemption of years 1865-1867, where he shared his knowledge in Mathematics at Jefferson College in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania. At the age of seventy-seven, he moved to Riverside, California together with his wife, Sarah A. McNair. In Stanford University, he was named non-resident lecturer of Astronomy. Here, he was very popular to his pupils, with them citing him to be an inspiration for them to broaden their interest in the matter learning in general, and not only the love of mathematics. Although he was considered a devout Presbyterian, this never caused any conflict in his studies.

His works in mathematics appeared early on in his learning years. His first noted publication appeared in the year 1848, which consisted of demonstrations ?that the square of the number of rotations per orbital revolution of a planet is proportional to the cube of the radius of the sphere of attraction given by the Laplace nebular hypothesis?. His other known works, like the ?Kepler-type? law and the nebular hypothesis has shown to need several amendments.

Many of his works have been used in today?s scientific literature to verify and slightly modify the Nebular Hypothesis. But perhaps his most important work, the ?gaps? or ?chasms? in the distribution of the mean distances of the asteroids from the sun, was discovered as early as 1857, when on fifty asteroids were known. All in all, he wrote 129 publications, including three books, two of which are his books entitled Meteoric Astronomy (1867) and Comets and Meteors (1873). In his honor, Indiana University named their observatory after him, the Kirkwood Observatory. Kirkwood died in Riverside, California on June 11, 1895. He was buried alongside his wife and daughter in Rose Hill Cemetery, Bloomington, Indiana.

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Andres Jonas Angstrom

He was able to complete the task given to him just shortly before his death. He took over the post of Adolph Ferdinand Svanberg as chair of physics at the Uppsala University in 1858. To date, his most valuable work was his study of the conduction of heat and spectroscopy. His studies earned him the Rumford medal of the Royal Society in 1972 and he was honored to be one of the founders of spectroscopy.

In line with astronomy, he conducted researches that involve the solar spectrum. His study of the spectroscope combined with photography, yielded his discovery that the sun?s atmosphere consists of hydrogen, among other elements. He published a map of the normal solar spectrum, Recherches sur le spectre solaire that included detailed measurements of 1000 spectral lines. In 1867, he became the first astronomer to examine the spectrum of the aurora borealis or the northern lights.

He had a son named Knut Johan Angstrom who also became a physicist and a professor of the same science as with his father, at Stockholm University in 1885. His son also made a name of his own, and was known for his invention of the electric compensation pyrheliometer and the apparatus for obtaining the photographic representation of the infra-red spectrum. There were many honors named after Andres Jonas Angstrom like the Angstrom Laboratory at the Uppsala University. The Angstrom unit, used in crystallography and spectroscopy was also named after him. The crater named Angstrom that was found on the moon was also named for his honor.

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Johann Gottfried Galle

A mere 1 degree away was the discrepancy from the calculations of Le Verrier. This was an astounding discovery for the astronomers. His discovery was almost hindered by the Director of the Cambridge Observatory, James Callis when he refused to allow Galle to utilize the observatory?s equipment so as to assist in locating the celestial body that Le Verrier wrote about.

He diligently worked at the Breslau Observatory and became a professor in astronomy in 1851. Throughout his life as an astronomer, he pursued the study of the comets. His son, Andreas Galle, also took an inclination to the sciences and the principles of astronomy. He became an assistant to his father when he published a list of 414 comets in 1894. In less than a year, from December 1839 to March 1840, he discovered 3 comets in quick succession. To honor Johann Gottfried Galle, two craters were named after him, the two being craters found on the moon and one on Mars which resembled a happy face. The asteroid 2097 Galle and the ring of Neptune named after him. For his extraordinary contributions, especially in the study of the comets, he received great honor.

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He yielded such an extraordinary research with his use of pendulums in the top and bottom of a mine. His first two attempts, though were a failure having met with unfortunate natural disasters, he was prompted to relocate to a different mining area where he obtained the figures 6.566 as the earth?s specific density. Though later on this value may be changed, his contributions that Greenwich as the location of the prime meridian, is still a generally known fact taught in textbooks and schools today.

As a child, he became admirable to his peers for his skilled work for making peashooters. In college, he entered Trinity College as a sizar, exchanging work hours for tuition fee reduction. It was in this noble structure that he established his brilliance, having been a scholar, and a receiver of the Smith?s prize, and the title senior wrangler, the highest scoring student graduating with first-class honors.

He acquired various positions that led him to be a remarkable person in mathematics and astronomy. Being the astronomer royal, president of the royal society, a knight of the order of the bath, made him a very successful and well-respected man. He was also elected four times to be the president of the Royal Astronomical Society. Today, his name is etched on significant researches and studies; he is named after theories and honored for his contributions, such as the Airy stress function method, Martian crater airy, lunar crater airy, air wave theory and the term Airy disc. His most valuable achievement of all is his discovery of the new inequality in the motions of Venus and the Earth.

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Christiaan Huygens

Christiaan Huygens became known due to his contributions such as the Wave Theory of Light, which was based on Robert Hooke?s suggestions and had three theories that explain the mechanics of light. In the later year, Isaac Newton provided a different explanation. He also explained something about Momentum that contributed to Mechanics. In Astronomy, on the other hand, he was recognized for discovering Titan, Saturn?s largest Moon. He also observed the Orion Nebula, which he subdivided into different stars using his modern telescope. The region that appears brighter than other regions was named after him, calling it Huygens Region.

The transit of Mercury over the Sun was also observed along with astronomers. Moreover, he improved the telescope lenses in 1654, which helped resolve astronomical disputes. Another is his invention of the Pendulum Clock and watches. In 1675, he focused on the creation of balance wheel and spring assembly, which can now be found in wristwatches. Notably, the first watch that was motion-regulated by a balance spring was made in Paris under Christiaan?s direction and served as a gift to King Louis XIV of France.

In 1680 marked the discovery of internal combustion engine that is fuelled by gunpowder. Sometime in 1681, on the other hand, he returned to Holland due to the prejudice of French Catholics towards his inventions. In there, he took the opportunity to construct enormous lenses, which was placed at the Royal Society of London. It was also at this time that he discovered the achromatic eye-piece telescope.

Moreover, Christiaan Huygens? writings include Horologium Oscillatorium in 1673 and Cosmotheoros or Conjectures Concerning the Planetary Worlds, in which he discussed the existence of extraterrestrial life and was published prior to his death on July 8, 1695.

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Proud parents, Giacomo Casssini and Julia Crovesi had Giovanni. In the later years, most especially when he began studying, it was his mother?s brother who took care of him and raised him. This science genius became an Astronomer at Panzano Observatory and a professor at the University of Bologna then became the director of the observatory. He moved from Italy to Paris, that is why his nationality is Italian from 1625 ? 1673 and a French from 1673 ? 1722. His observation of Sidera Lodoicea or the four moons of Saturn, including lapetus has exposed and make him known in Astronomy.

In recognition to this observation, it is known as Cassini Regio. The Cassini Division was also named after him as he is able to discover the four rings of Saturn. In 1690, he also was the one to observe the differential rotation within Jupiter?s atmosphere. He and another colleague, Jean Richer observed the planet Mars and they computed its distance from Earth. Also, he made measurements of longitude by the use of an alternative clock ? eclipses of Jupiter?s satellites. On the other hand, it was King Louis the IV of France who helped him establish the Paris Observatory.

Eventually, he was hired by Pope Clement IX to attend to Engineering concerns such as river management, fortifications; however when he was asked to accept Holy Orders, he declined as what he wanted was to focus on his profession as an Astronomer. Furthermore, he was the proponent of the Cassini oval, a plane curve, sets of points which denote that the product of the two distances two fixed points is constant.

It is also interesting to note that Cassini was married and had two sons and a daughter. He and his wife, Genevieve Delaistre were married in 1674. Had he not moved to France, he may not have met his wife. His life came to an end on September 14, 1712 due to an illness. In honor of Cassini, the ESA-NASA of the Mission Cassini to Saturn was named after him.

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Johannes Kepler

This exceptionally gifted-man, at an early age, manifested interest in Astronomical activities such as the Supernova in 1577 and a lunar eclipse in 1580. It has to be taken into account that Johannes had chickenpox when he was still young and that impaired his vision and hands such that it also limited opportunities to engage in astronomy?related activities. Nevertheless, this did not hinder him to be responsible for some contributions in Science.

Kepler was able to study at the University of Tubingen through the help of the duke. There, he learned languages, Mathematics and Astronomy. One of his professors in Astronomy is Michael Mastlin who, at that time, supported the Copernican theory, which was then widely accepted by most people. Later on, he pursued Theology and establishment commitment to the Christian faith. Years after, he was asked to teach Math in Graz, Austria.

The position that was offered to him required him to do land-surveying and calendar-making. During that time, Astrology was given regard such that people are made to believe that their lives depend on the stars. Kepler published a book sometime in 1601 which gave way to the rejections of superstitions. He negated that people?s lives depend on the stars. He also studied the long term accuracy of astrology as such it was recorded that trusting on astrology alone would entail risks.

Johannes Kepler is widely known due to his Laws of Planetary Motion. This had three laws which made use of Tycho Brahe?s observations in his further analysis. For his personal life, he had two marriages with Barbara ? an arranged marriage; second was with Susanna ? for practical purposes of taking care of his kids. He died on November 15, 1630 because of a fever, but he left theories and writings that have contributed so much to Science.

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