Telescope

Telescope Timeline - Kaitlyn Fourie

By Kaitlyn Fourie

  • 1608

    1608
    Hans Lippershey creates the kijker (Looker), which can magnify up to three times. Zacharias Jansen creates the compound microscope.

  • 1609

    1609
    Galileo makes his own version of a telescope, which magnifies up to 20 times, he drew the moon in detail and even studied the milky way.

  • 1611

    1611
    Kepler developed the Keplerian telescope, it improved the magnification significantly but the images were upside down.

  • 1655

    1655
    The new telescope which was enormous for the time, 12 foot, developed by Christian Huygens. The telescope helped him spot a moon which orbited Saturn which he named Saturni Luna.

  • 1659

    1659
    Christian Huygens was able to give a detailed description of Saturn's ring.

  • 1668

    1668
    Isaac Newton creates the Newtonian telescope, smaller easier and cheaper to build.

  • 1729

    1729
    Chester Hall fixes the colour distortion which Isaac Newton had claimed was impossible. By studying the human eye, he had used refracting rather than reflecting telescopes.

  • 1789

    1789
    William Herschel constructs a 12-meter telescope based on the Newtonian reflector telescope. Herschel solved the poor reflective quality often found in Newtonian telescopes.

  • 1800's

    1800's
    The giant telescope was used by Lord Rosse for years to study the night sky.

  • 1847

    1847
    Saturni Luna was renamed to Titan by John Herschel.

  • 1897

    1897
    The Yerkes Observatory was meant to be the largest telescope in the world during its time.

  • 1908

    The telescope Lord Rosse fell into disuse and was dismantled.

  • 1930's

    1930's
    Radio Telescopy was developed by Karl Guthe Janksy, it was designed to receive a shortwave radio signal at around 20.5 MHz.

  • 1957

    1957
    Bernard Lovell built a huge 250 foot radio telescope at Jodrell Bank in UK.

  • 1990

    Lord Rosse's telescope was reconstructed.

  • 1990

    1990
    The Hubble Space Telescope was deployed, making it the first telescope to be launched into space.

  • 1991

    1991
    The Compton Gamma Ray Observatory was launched, it was sent to low earth orbit and consisted of 4 telescopes on a single platform.

  • 1990-1996

    1990-1996
    The W. M. Keck Observatory was built from 1990-1996, a twin-telescope astronomical observatory near the summit in Mauna Kea in Hawaii.

  • 2000

    The Compton Gamma Ray Observatory had it's deorbit.

  • 2009

    2009
    The Herschel Space Observatory was built by the European Space Agency, it was the largest infrared telescope to ever be launched in space.

  • 2018

    2018
    The new James Webb Space Telescope was built and will be replacing the Hubble Telescope.

  • 2020

    2020
    The James Webb Space telescope will be launched.

  • Bibliography

    McFadden, Christopher. “A Brief History of the Telescope: From 1608 to Gamma-Rays.” Interesting Engineering, Interesting Engineering, 24 Sept. 2018, interestingengineering.com/a-brief-history-of-the-telescope-from-1608-to-gamma-rays.