Photo by: DrJunge Creative Commons A telescope is an instrument used to observe objects from afar. The word is derived from Greek words tele and skopein which means “far” and “to see” respectively. Contrary to popular belief, it was not ‘invented’ by Galileo. There has been evidence of a refracting telescope that has been in […]
Photo by: Jastrow Creative Commons Setting circles are disks used on various telescopes outfitted with an equatorial mount to aid in the search for astronomical objects anywhere in the sky by referencing equatorial coordinates used in the star charts. It functions by attaching those graduated disks to the right ascension and to the declination axis
Fine lines or webs used in the focal plane eyepiece are called Reticle. It is used for centering objects or as a guide for making angular measurements. It is commonly used for telescopes, cameras and even rifles. It is also known as graticule. The lines on the reticle are also typically illuminated.
When you look at stars in the night sky, it appears like they are just tiny dots of light that look the same. However, they are millions of lights years away, stars look very different from how they appear at night. They are in fact classified into several types according to their size, temperature, and
A radiometer is a device used for measuring different types of electromagnetic radiation or energy that exhibit wave-like properties. All objects that have a temperature beyond absolute zero are able to radiate this type of energy into the space surrounding them. This is also true for objects found in space such as stars and even
A refracting telescope is one of the earliest tools used by astronomers from way back to study outer space and distant objects. It is one of the two kinds of optical telescopes and uses a lens as the light gathering part or the objective as opposed to a mirror that is commonly used as the
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The Sun, Moon, stars and other celestial objects are beyond the reach of any instrument that can be used by observers here on Earth. Measuring the distance of a celestial object from the Earth might seem to be complicated. But measuring the distance of these remote entities have been simplified by the concept of parallax.
There are many terms in astronomy, and there is no doubt about that. One of which is the concept of Obliquity, more commonly known as the axial tilt. The angle between a certain rotational axis of an object and the specific perpendicular line in regards to the object’s orbital plane is better known as its
Photo by: Rama Creative Commons Not only does astronomy cover different branches of science, it also borrows concepts in fiber optics as well. Objective (optics) is also taken into account when it comes to science, or in this case, astronomy.
The Rotation period is the time required for a body to rotate around its axis. The lower the period means the greater rotation boost it has. This differs greatly from the planet’s solar day, which would include an extra fractional rotation which is needed to furnish the portion of the planet’s orbital period during one
