• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer
Zippy Facts Logo

Zippy Facts

Interesting Random Facts

  • Animals
  • Culture
  • Firsts
  • Food
  • Geography
  • Health
  • History
  • Inventions
  • Language
  • Mythology
  • Odds
  • People
  • Religion
  • Science
  • Space
  • Universe
  • World
You are here: Home / Space / How Does a Reflecting Telescope Work and Who Invented the Reflecting Telescope?

How Does a Reflecting Telescope Work and Who Invented the Reflecting Telescope?

April 11, 2020 by Karen Hill

A reflecting telescope uses mirrors, whereas a refracting telescope uses lenses to gather light.

Light gathered into a reflecting telescope first travels the length of the telescope’s tube until it reaches a mirror placed at the tube’s end.

The light bounces off that mirror, called the primary mirror, and journeys back along the tube to a point where it refocuses into a reflection of the original image.

The point where the light refocuses is called the prime focus.

Photographic or computer graphic equipment can be placed at the prime focus to record the image, or another mirror, called the secondary mirror, can be used to reflect the image into an eyepiece for viewing.

One of the world’s largest reflecting telescopes, the Keck Telescope on Mauna Kea in Hawaii, has a primary mirror that measures 387 inches
(9.8 m) in diameter.

The idea that curved mirrors behave like lenses dates back at least to Alhazen’s 11th century treatise on optics.

Many historians agree that Isaac Newton built the first reflecting telescope in 1668.

Related Facts

  • How Does a Simple Refracting Telescope Work and When Was the Cassegrain Reflecting Telescope Invented?
  • How Does a Telescope Work?
  • Why Is an Image In a Mirror Inverted Left To Right But Not Top To Bottom and How Is a Mirror Image Reversed?
  • How Did Isaac Newton’s Study of Optics Lead To the Invention of the Reflecting Telescope?
  • How do astronomers know where one galaxy ends and another galaxy begins?
  • 15 Inventions You Wish You Invented

Filed Under: Space

About Karen Hill

Karen Hill is a freelance writer, editor, and columnist. Born in New York, her work has appeared in the Examiner, Yahoo News, Buzzfeed, among others.

Previous Post: « What Is Astronomy, What Does Astronomy Mean In Greek, and Why Is the Study of Astronomy Important To Us?
Next Post: How Did Astronomy Begin and Why Did Claudius Ptolemy Believe That the Earth Was the Center of the Universe? »

Footer

Follow

  • Facebook
  • Flickr
  • GitHub
  • Google+
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Medium
  • Pinterest
  • StumbleUpon
  • Tumblr
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Categories

Accomplishments Animals Culture Firsts Food Geography Health History Inventions Language Mythology Odds People Religion Science Space Universe World Your Body

About

Zippy Facts empowers the world by serving educational content that is accessible to everyone.

A tribute to growing up, zippyfacts.com showcases interesting and unusual facts about the world.

Our mission is to use technology to facilitate knowledge transfer and sharing.

Copyright © 2020 Zippy Facts

  • About Us
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy