Observatories and Telescopes

A set of flashcards covering key vocabulary and concepts from the lecture on observatories and telescopes.

OWL

Overwhelmingly Large Telescope, planned for the Canary Islands but never built due to cost.

Electromagnetic Spectrum

The range of wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation, including all types of radiation that strike the Earth.

Refractor

A type of telescope that uses lenses to focus light.

Reflector

A telescope design that uses mirrors to gather and focus light.

Cassegrain Telescope

A type of reflecting telescope with a convex secondary mirror that reflects light to a focus behind the primary mirror.

Adaptive Optics

Technology used in telescopes to improve image quality by compensating for atmospheric turbulence.

LIGO

Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory, which detects gravitational waves from cosmic events.

CCD

Charge Coupled Device, a type of electronic sensor used in modern telescopes to capture images.

Light Pollution

The presence of artificial light in the night sky that hinders astronomical observations.

James Webb Space Telescope (JWST)

A space telescope designed to observe infrared light and study the universe from the second Lagrange point (L2), launched in December 2021.