The first telescopes were invented in the Netherlands in 1608 by spectacle makers Hans Lippershey, Zacharias Janssen, and Jacob Metius. The telescopes were made of a convex and concave lens in a tube, which magnified objects three or four times.
The telescope’s invention was the result of developments in optics and craftsmanship related to spectacles. The first telescopes were used for military tactics and surveying, and were primarily used for Earth-bound observations.
Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei was the first to use a telescope for astronomical observations. He made his own telescope by combining a convex and concave lens, which is known as a Galilean telescope. Galileo’s observations included:
Jupiter’s four moons
The Earth’s moon is not spherical
The terrain of the moon, and its similarity to Earth
The sun was the center of the universe
Isaac Newton invented the first reflecting telescope in 1672. Reflecting telescopes use mirrors instead of lenses, which allowed for the production of larger telescopes.
The first space telescope was Ariel 1, which was launched into orbit in April 1962 by the U.K. It was a collaborative effort between the United States and Britain, and was also the first international satellite.
