Reference Terms
from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Telescope
A telescope is an instrument designed for the observation of remote objects. The term usually refers to optical telescopes, but there are telescopes for most of the spectrum of electromagnetic radiation and for other signal types.
An optical telescope gathers and focuses visible light and other electromagnetic radiation. Telescopes increase the apparent angular size of distant objects, as well as their apparent brightness. Telescopes work by employing one or more curved optical elements - lenses or mirrors - to gather light or other electromagnetic radiation and bring that light or radiation to a focus, where the image can be observed, photographed or studied. Optical telescopes are used for astronomy and in many non-astronomical instruments including theodolites, transits, spotting scopes, monoculars, binoculars, camera lenses and spyglasses.
Related Stories
1
2
Space & Time News
August 1, 2026
July 31, 2026 Scientists have built the first all-optical photonic time crystal, allowing them to reshape the behavior of terahertz light at extraordinary speeds. The breakthrough could open the door to ultrafast computing, smarter communication systems, advanced ...
July 30, 2026 Astronomers may have been listening for alien civilizations in only a small slice of the radio spectrum while overlooking a largely unexplored range of higher frequencies. Using archived data from the ALMA telescope in Chile, researchers conducted ...
July 28, 2026 NASA’s Psyche spacecraft aced its Mars flyby, using the planet’s gravity to speed toward its 2029 encounter with a metal-rich asteroid. The spacecraft tested its cameras, magnetometer, and ...
July 23, 2026 NASA is preparing for future astronaut landings on the Moon with an unusually ambitious orbital rehearsal. During Artemis III in 2027, Orion astronauts will rendezvous and dock separately with ...
July 21, 2026 China’s Chang’e-6 samples have uncovered a surprising difference between the Moon’s two hemispheres. Solar wind particles penetrated deeper into the far-side soil because Earth’s ...
July 19, 2026 The asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs was likely an exceptionally rare CO chondrite from a distant region of the solar system. Its unusual chemistry suggests that planet-cooling dust and debris, ...
July 18, 2026 A catastrophic asteroid breakup may have triggered a huge wave of impacts across the inner solar system about 800 million years ago. The debris was launched from near a gravitational gateway controlled by Jupiter, sending fragments toward Earth, the ...
July 17, 2026 Scientists say new technologies have reopened the debate over whether Mars could someday be terraformed, turning a once impossible idea into a serious research topic. Before anyone tries to reshape the Red Planet, though, researchers say we must ...
July 15, 2026 NASA's PACE satellite captured the Black Sea glowing turquoise during its annual phytoplankton bloom. The vivid color comes from massive numbers of coccolithophores, microscopic organisms whose reflective shells brighten the water enough to be seen ...
July 15, 2026 NASA has chosen 41 commercial technology projects that could solve critical challenges for future missions to the Moon and Mars. From powering lunar outposts to protecting spacecraft from Moon dust, the innovations are designed to push both space ...
July 14, 2026 K2-18b is one of the most promising worlds for the search for extraterrestrial life, so astronomers conducted an unusually powerful radio survey using both the VLA and MeerKAT telescopes. Advanced ...
July 14, 2026 NASA's Perseverance rover has reached an impressive new milestone on Mars, completing the equivalent of a full marathon by driving 26.2 miles (42.195 kilometers) across the Red Planet. It accomplished the feat in just five years and four months, ...
Latest Headlines
updated 12:56 pm ET
Aug. 1, 2026 NASA’s Curiosity rover has entered a Martian valley covered by an astonishing “sea” of tiny polygon-shaped fractures. The honeycomb patterns, each only a few inches wide, stretch across the ...
Aug. 1, 2026 Primordial black holes may occasionally pass through white dwarf stars and trigger enormous Type Ia supernova explosions. Researchers found that these events could explain chemical patterns seen in ...
July 31, 2026 A black hole observed during a dramatic 2023 eruption did not simply devour gas from its nearby companion star. It also expelled large amounts of material through powerful jets and winds, even after ...
July 31, 2026 Scientists traced a mysterious surge of low-energy gamma rays from zinc-70 to magnetic changes occurring inside its nucleus. The breakthrough could improve models of how stars, supernovae, and ...
July 29, 2026 Europa’s hidden ocean has made the icy moon one of the solar system’s most promising places to search for habitable conditions. Scientists have hoped that water from this deep ocean might rise ...
July 28, 2026 NASA’s Swift Observatory observed a supermassive black hole ripping apart a star more than 30,000 light-years from the center of a distant galaxy. ...
July 27, 2026 Young Jupiter’s powerful magnetic field may have created a safe zone where several large moons could survive. Saturn lacked this protection, possibly explaining why Titan stands almost alone among ...
July 27, 2026 NASA astronaut Chris Williams and two Roscosmos cosmonauts are back on Earth after spending 241 days aboard the International Space Station. Their journey covered more than 102 million miles and ...
July 25, 2026 Cosmic expansion allows distant galaxies to move away faster than light, while still letting us see ancient light they emitted when they were much closer. Eventually, accelerating expansion will push ...
July 24, 2026 Scientists have uncovered new evidence that Venus may still be tearing itself apart from within. Advanced 3D simulations indicate that some of the planet's giant rift valleys formed relatively ...