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Reflecting telescope

Reflecting \Re*flect"ing\, a.

  1. Throwing back light, heat, etc., as a mirror or other surface.

  2. Given to reflection or serious consideration; reflective; contemplative; as, a reflecting mind.

    Reflecting circle, an astronomical instrument for measuring angless, like the sextant or Hadley's quadrant, by the reflection of light from two plane mirrors which it carries, and differing from the sextant chiefly in having an entire circle.

    Reflecting galvanometer, a galvanometer in which the deflections of the needle are read by means of a mirror attached to it, which reflects a ray of light or the image of a scale; -- called also mirror galvanometer.

    Reflecting goniometer. See under Goniometer.

    Reflecting telescope. See under Telescope.

Reflecting telescope

Telescope \Tel"e*scope\, n. [Gr. ? viewing afar, farseeing; ? far, far off + ? a watcher, akin to ? to view: cf. F. t['e]lescope. See Telegraph, and -scope.] An optical instrument used in viewing distant objects, as the heavenly bodies.

Note: A telescope assists the eye chiefly in two ways; first, by enlarging the visual angle under which a distant object is seen, and thus magnifying that object; and, secondly, by collecting, and conveying to the eye, a larger beam of light than would enter the naked organ, thus rendering objects distinct and visible which would otherwise be indistinct and or invisible. Its essential parts are the object glass, or concave mirror, which collects the beam of light, and forms an image of the object, and the eyeglass, which is a microscope, by which the image is magnified.

Achromatic telescope. See under Achromatic.

Aplanatic telescope, a telescope having an aplanatic eyepiece.

Astronomical telescope, a telescope which has a simple eyepiece so constructed or used as not to reverse the image formed by the object glass, and consequently exhibits objects inverted, which is not a hindrance in astronomical observations.

Cassegrainian telescope, a reflecting telescope invented by Cassegrain, which differs from the Gregorian only in having the secondary speculum convex instead of concave, and placed nearer the large speculum. The Cassegrainian represents objects inverted; the Gregorian, in their natural position. The Melbourne telescope (see Illust. under Reflecting telescope, below) is a Cassegrainian telescope.

Dialytic telescope. See under Dialytic.

Equatorial telescope. See the Note under Equatorial.

Galilean telescope, a refracting telescope in which the eyeglass is a concave instead of a convex lens, as in the common opera glass. This was the construction originally adopted by Galileo, the inventor of the instrument. It exhibits the objects erect, that is, in their natural positions.

Gregorian telescope, a form of reflecting telescope. See under Gregorian.

Herschelian telescope, a reflecting telescope of the form invented by Sir William Herschel, in which only one speculum is employed, by means of which an image of the object is formed near one side of the open end of the tube, and to this the eyeglass is applied directly.

Newtonian telescope, a form of reflecting telescope. See under Newtonian.

Photographic telescope, a telescope specially constructed to make photographs of the heavenly bodies.

Prism telescope. See Teinoscope.

Reflecting telescope, a telescope in which the image is formed by a speculum or mirror (or usually by two speculums, a large one at the lower end of the telescope, and the smaller one near the open end) instead of an object glass. See Gregorian, Cassegrainian, Herschelian, & Newtonian, telescopes, above.

Refracting telescope, a telescope in which the image is formed by refraction through an object glass.

Telescope carp (Zo["o]l.), the telescope fish.

Telescope fish (Zo["o]l.), a monstrous variety of the goldfish having very protuberant eyes.

Telescope fly (Zo["o]l.), any two-winged fly of the genus Diopsis, native of Africa and Asia. The telescope flies are remarkable for having the eyes raised on very long stalks.

Telescope shell (Zo["o]l.), an elongated gastropod ( Cerithium telescopium) having numerous flattened whorls.

Telescope sight (Firearms), a slender telescope attached to the barrel, having cross wires in the eyepiece and used as a sight.

Terrestrial telescope, a telescope whose eyepiece has one or two lenses more than the astronomical, for the purpose of inverting the image, and exhibiting objects erect.

Wiktionary
reflecting telescope

n. A telescope which produces a magnify image by reflecting light through a series of mirrors housed in a tube, using a large curved mirror to gather the light and one or more additional mirrors to transmit the light to an eyepiece.

WordNet
reflecting telescope

n. optical telescope consisting of a large concave mirror that produces an image that is magnified by the eyepiece; "Isaac Newton invented the reflecting telescope in 1668" [syn: reflector]

Wikipedia
Reflecting telescope

A reflecting telescope (also called a reflector) is an optical telescope which uses a single or combination of curved mirrors that reflect light and form an image. The reflecting telescope was invented in the 17th century as an alternative to the refracting telescope which, at that time, was a design that suffered from severe chromatic aberration. Although reflecting telescopes produce other types of optical aberrations, it is a design that allows for very large diameter objectives. Almost all of the major telescopes used in astronomy research are reflectors. Reflecting telescopes come in many design variations and may employ extra optical elements to improve image quality or place the image in a mechanically advantageous position. Since reflecting telescopes use mirrors, the design is sometimes referred to as a " catoptric" telescope.

Usage examples of "reflecting telescope".

Tynedale's theory of gravitation, Tynedale's laws of planetary motion, the Tynedale reflecting telescope, and the Tynedale methods of differential and integral calculus.

The Reflecting Telescope was resting on the table right in front of him, as obvious as a severed head.

As an undergraduate, before his invention of the reflecting telescope, Newton spent many consecutive sleepless nights searching the sky for comets with his naked eye, pursuing them with such fervor that he felt ill from exhaustion.

Two seasons ago, Maia had tried drawing Bennett out of his decline, leading him by hand up narrow spiral steps to the small dome holding the clan's reflecting telescope.

The telescope of even a small observatory makes nearly two million stars visible and a modern reflecting telescope brings the light from thousands of millions more to the viewer-specks of light in the Milky Way.

But then, anyone who had enough money to buy a four foot reflecting telescope, then ship it out to a frontier world and live there with it, had to be somewhat eccentric.

Only the day before Bigman had seen Saturn through the thousand-inch reflecting telescope, the grinding of the huge mirror having consumed twenty years of painstaking and continuous labor.

The latticework antenna of Tom's megascope space prober was mounted side by side with the Swifts' powerful reflecting telescope.

That got him to the parabola, and he explained the reflecting telescope.

This could have been a major research station, with a monstrous reflecting telescope—.

To assist his father in his entomological studies, he even contrived, with the aid of the descriptions given in the books borrowed from his cousin the watchmaker, to make for him a microscope, from which he proceeded to make a reflecting telescope, which proved a very good instrument.

This could have been a major research station, with a monstrous reflecting telescope&mdash.

By repeated observations with a powerful reflecting telescope of his own construction, he succeeded in making a very careful and minute painting of the craters, cracks, mountains, and valleys in the moon's surface, for which a Council Medal was awarded him at the Great Exhibition of 1851.

Schroeder stood up and led the other to the far side of the table, which in fact formed the platform of a large reflecting telescope.