Seeing the Universe

before 1610 - naked eye astronomy

1673 - Hevelius' long telescopes

1780 - Herschel's large reflectors

1838 - Meridian Circles

1845 - Rosse's Leviathian

1890 - Barnard's camera

1923 - The Hooker 100 inch

1948 - The Palomar 200 inch

1990 - The Hubble Space Telescope

1998 - The Keck 10 metre pair

2000 - The VLT array

2015 - Planning for the JWST

2020? - Planning the OWL

How much further?

In 1610, Galileo heard about a telescope a dutch optician had made. He constructed his own telescopes and turned them to the heavens. The apparent size of the universe immediately expanded. For the first time, sun spots, the phases of Venus, mountains on the Moon and the four large moons of Jupiter became visible. Galileo pioneered the use of telescopes in astronomy. So thorough were his studies that for a time it was considered that he had completely described the universe. Over the years, Galileo made many telescopes and sold or gave most away. Two of his instruments held in the Galileo Museum are shown in the photo. Note: Telescopes sold in toy stores today show more detail than Galileo could see through his instruments.  Galileo Project Home Page