Exam 6: Light and Telescopes

The larger the diameter of a telescope, the more light it will collect.

Why have so many optical telescopes been built atop Mauna Kea, Hawai'i?

Jenny, who lives on a farm in a rural part of New York, calls her cousin, Karen, in Brooklyn to tell her that she can see the Milky Way in tonight's night sky. However, Karen says she can't see it at all.  What is preventing Karen from seeing the Milky Way in the night sky?

What does chromatic aberration separate within refracting telescopes?

Red light of the visible light spectrum has longer wavelengths than blue.

What are the advantages of putting telescopes in space?  Provide specific examples of three current space telescopes.

Refracting telescopes use a mirror to gather and focus light.

Name all the forms of radiation within the electromagnetic spectrum in the order from shortest to longest wavelength.

Which part of a telescope is responsible for magnifying an image?

Large doses of _______________ light can cause sunburn and skin cancers.

What unit is used to measure wavelengths?

Which telescope will be launched into solar orbit and eventually replace observations made by the Hubble Space Telescope?

Which type of focus is most common for larger telescopes?

Built in 1963, the _______________ telescope in Puerto Rico is the largest single radio dish in the world.

Which type of electromagnetic wave is the shortest?

Which form of radiation has the lowest frequency?

Explain interferometry and provide an example of an observatory that uses this technique.

Why are reflecting telescopes cheaper to build than refracting telescopes?

It is a common misconception that the purpose of an astronomical telescope is to _______________ images .

Short-focal-length lenses and mirrors must be strongly curved.