The first telescope was an idea and an invention that both Hans Lippershey and Galileo Galilei had direct input in. The telescope has made major impacts in the field of astronomy and has evolved much since its creation.
- In Holland, a man named Hans Lippershey first developed the idea of using a lens to greatly magnify objects. This occurred in the year 1608.
- In Italy, a man named Galileo Galilei then used this discovery to build the first telescope, in 1609. Some would argue that though he used Lippershey's discovery to invent the telescope, Galileo was the one that went the extra mile and actually invented it.
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- The field of astronomy was greatly advanced by the invention of Galileo's telescope, and the device was used to first view the craters on the moon, the rings of Saturn, four moons of Jupiter as well as sunspots on the Sun.
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- The development of the telescope was later advanced by a number of other scientists including Sir Issac Newton, James Short, Cherubin d'Orleans, J.P. Lemiere and Ignatio Porro. Many of these advancements included using telescope designs to develop the first binoculars.
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- Galileo's first telescope was only able to view objects in space at 30x magnification. The average telescope can now view objects clearly between 50x and 75x magnification, and more powerful home telescopes can view objects in space at well above 600x magnification.
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