Telescopes

Space telescopes have to operate in the unforgiving vacuum of space—no air, wild temperature swings, and no humans around to […]

Microgravity really changes how space telescopes behave long after launch. Without gravity pulling everything down, structures settle in new ways,

Light scattering really shapes how telescopes capture and form images. Whenever light hits a telescope’s optical surfaces, even tiny imperfections

Precision optical instruments need more than just good design and expert assembly. Their performance really hinges on stable, well-controlled environments

When engineers launch a space-based telescope, it faces intense vibrations and shocks from rocket engines, stage separations, and pyrotechnic events.

Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) is a technique in radio astronomy that connects radio telescopes across huge distances, letting them

Designing a wide-field survey telescope isn’t just about cranking up the field of view. Optical engineers have to juggle factors

A telescope’s dome does more than just shield delicate instruments from the elements. It actually shapes the quality of every

Coronagraphy sits right at the heart of direct exoplanet detection. By blocking or suppressing starlight, it lets us spot faint

Radio interferometry lets astronomers link multiple antennas into a single observing system. This approach creates images with way more detail

Multi-wavelength telescope arrays really need precise calibration if you want accurate astronomical data. Each wavelength band reacts differently to the

Astronomers these days are leaning into photonic spectrographs and integrated optics to capture more precise data from the cosmos, all

Designing a high-performance telescope takes more than just precise engineering of mirrors and lenses. You have to predict how light

Telescope engineering is moving into an era where precision optics, advanced sensors, and global networks all work together to reveal

Fiber optics have really changed how astronomers collect and analyze light from distant objects. By guiding light through flexible, low-loss

Multi-Conjugate Adaptive Optics (MCAO) steps in to fix atmospheric turbulence over a much wider field of view than what traditional

Trying to capture crisp images of distant galaxies or faint nebulae is tough. Even top telescopes struggle with blurring from

On-orbit servicing and alignment of space telescopes let engineers repair, upgrade, and calibrate spacecraft right in orbit, no need to

Astronomical images usually arrive blurry, noisy, or incomplete. Telescopes have limits, the atmosphere messes things up, and sensors aren’t perfect.

Astronomical observations usually pick up a lot of unwanted noise from the instruments, the atmosphere, or even background sources. This

Large astronomical surveys grab huge amounts of data from the sky, usually in multiple wavelengths, by using advanced telescopes and

High-contrast imaging pushes optical systems to spot faint objects near bright sources, like planets orbiting distant stars. One way to

Nulling interferometry gives astronomers a clever way to spot faint objects hiding near much brighter ones. By blending light from

Light from distant stars and galaxies doesn’t reach a telescope unchanged. As it passes through Earth’s atmosphere, different wavelengths bend

Shack-Hartmann sensors sit at the heart of measuring and correcting optical wavefronts, popping up everywhere from astronomy to vision science.

Laser guide star systems shoot artificial points of light high up in the atmosphere, giving telescopes a solid reference for

Getting a telescope to work right really comes down to how precisely each optical element is aligned and measured. You

Stray light can quietly undermine the performance of even the most advanced optical systems. It scatters or bounces off unintended

Telescope mirrors really depend on advanced coating technologies to capture and reflect as much light as possible. These coatings determine

Segmented mirror phasing makes sure every mirror segment in a large telescope works together as a single, precise optical surface.

Large telescope mirrors need to keep a precise shape to produce sharp, accurate images. Even tiny changes from gravity, temperature

Thin mirror technology brings together precision optics and materials engineering to create mirrors that are both lightweight and highly accurate.

Telescope mount kinematics shape how a mount moves and holds its position while it tracks objects across the sky. Every

Designing a telescope that delivers sharp, stable images takes more than just precise optics. The structure holding those optics needs

Large aperture telescopes really push the boundaries of precision engineering. These massive, lightweight structures collect faint light from distant objects,

If you want to capture faint and distant objects with a telescope, you have to understand how well the sensor

Infrared astronomy lets us peek into parts of the universe that visible light just can’t reach, but the signals we

In low-light astronomy, every photon really does matter. That faint glow from galaxies, nebulae, or exoplanets can get so weak

Polarization in telescope optics isn’t just a minor quirk of light—it can really shape the accuracy and clarity of what

High-resolution echelle spectroscopy has become a real cornerstone of modern astrophysics. It offers unmatched detail for studying stars and planets

A thoughtfully designed astronomical spectrograph can reveal details about distant stars, galaxies, and nebulae that images alone just can’t show.

Light doesn’t always travel in perfectly straight lines when it passes through a lens or an aperture. Instead, it bends

Coherence theory lays out how light waves keep a steady relationship in phase and frequency. That’s what lets us see

A telescope’s point spread function (PSF) shows how a single point of light—like a distant star—looks after it passes through

Fourier optics gives us a sharp lens to understand how telescopes form images—not just as simple pictures, but as patterns

Interferometry has changed how astronomers look at the universe. It lets us see details far beyond what a single telescope

If you want to understand how a telescope forms images, you need to look beyond just its magnification or aperture

Light travels through Earth’s atmosphere in a way that’s never perfectly smooth. Tiny, unpredictable changes in air temperature and density

When you design the optical path of an astronomical telescope, you have to juggle precision, efficiency, and practicality. Light needs

Large telescopes need really precise optics to capture sharp, detailed images of distant objects. Even tiny imperfections in how light