Reference Terms
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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.
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Space & Time News
July 26, 2026
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, ...
July 14, 2026 NASA is ramping up its lunar ambitions by awarding nearly $600 million for four commercial Moon landings planned for late 2028. Each mission will carry the same trio of science instruments to improve lunar navigation, study dangerous dust kicked up ...
July 12, 2026 Researchers have recreated the physics of extracting energy from a spinning black hole using a stationary device that produces synthetic ultrafast rotation. The achievement transforms a long-standing theoretical idea into a practical experiment and ...
July 10, 2026 A detailed independent study found that SpaceX's Starship is every bit as revolutionary as expected, while revealing both its impressive capabilities and its biggest remaining hurdles. It also introduces an ambitious European rocket concept that ...
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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 ...
July 24, 2026 A new analysis suggests the Sun holds far more silver than earlier estimates indicated. More advanced models of the solar atmosphere raised the calculated amount by 55 percent, bringing it into much ...
July 24, 2026 China’s Tianwen-1 orbiter captured a faint but remarkable view of 3I/ATLAS as the interstellar comet raced past Mars. The images reveal its tail and glowing coma, offering scientists a glimpse of ...
July 23, 2026 A giant planet had been hiding inside one of astronomy’s most closely studied planetary systems, concealed by a bright disk of cosmic dust. Webb ...
July 21, 2026 Astronomers have found the first confirmed atmosphere around a rocky planet in another star’s habitable zone. The planet, LHS 1140 b, revealed its ...
July 21, 2026 A newly discovered turning point in the Sun’s 11-year cycle could allow scientists to predict future solar activity years earlier than before. At ...
July 20, 2026 Dying Sun-like stars may not fade away quietly. As blobs of gas erupt unevenly from their swollen surfaces, each burst gives the star a tiny push in the opposite direction. Thousands of these random ...
July 20, 2026 A new theoretical study offers a possible explanation for how the Universe can grow more complex without violating the second law of thermodynamics. Using a quantum gravity framework called Gravity ...
July 19, 2026 Researchers have created cosmic dust from scratch by recreating space-like conditions inside glass tubes. The dust contains complex carbon-rich molecules built from elements essential to life and ...