Snipfact:

    The Large Binocular Telescope, completed in 2007, is the largest and most advanced optical telescope ever built. Sited at the Mount Graham International Observatory, it has two 8.4 m (27.5 ft) mirrors, giving a total area equal to one giant 11.4 m (37.4 ft) diameter mirror. It is expected to produce images as much as 10 times the resolution of those produced by the much smaller Hubble Space Telescope.

    This telescope is designed to collect light for spectrum analysis rather than for visual exploration. It has been in operation since 1999, and has an overall diameter of 11 m (36.1 ft), making it one of the largest ever optical telescopes.

    The two Keck telescopes were opened in 1992-96. They are situated 4,000 m (13,123 ft) up a Hawaiian mountain, so above 40 percent of the Earth’s atmosphere. They are the world’s most powerful ground-based instruments, with a 10.82 m (35.5 ft) total aperture made up of 36 hexagonal mirrors.

  The Hubble Space Telescope was launched in 1990 and orbits 600 km (372.8 miles) above Earth’s atmosphere. It can photograph distant objects with ten times the detail possible with ground-based telescopes.

  Completed in 1963, this is the world’s  most powerful radio telescope. Its uses include searching for pulsars and quasars and the search for alien life forms under the SETI (Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence) programme. Its giant 305m (1,000,65 ft) dish features in the final scenes of the James Bond film Golden Eye (1995).

  Britain’s first, and once the world’s largest radio telescope, with a 76 m (249.3 ft) dish began operating in 1957.

    The Hale’s 5 m (16.4 ft) telescope was first used in 1949.

    The Telescope was installed in 1917 with a mirror size of 2.5 m (8.2 ft). It was the world’s largest until the Hale.

    This 1 m (3.25 ft) telescope is the biggest refracting instrument made up to this time. It was completed in 1897.

    A giant telescope built in 1788 with a 1.2 m (3.9 ft) mirror. It is also known as Herschel’s “Forty-foot” reflector.

    The Earl of Rosse’s 1.8 m 5.9 ft) reflecting telescope, built in 1845, was used to discover the spiral form of galaxies. It was the world’s largest until the opening of Mount Wilson.

    Founded by King Charles II in 1675, but atmospheric and light pollution in London reduced its efficiency. In 1884 the prime or Greenwich Meridian, 0 o , Which passes through the Observatory, was adopted as the basis for all mapping and measurements. Longitude measurements refer to west or east of the meridian.

    Edwin Hubble (USA, 1889-1953 made important discoveries about galaxies. The Hubble Space Telescope was named in his honour.