Radio Observatory and Telescope Index -- General Index

Every night, astronomers use a new generation of giant telescopes at observatories around the world to study phenomena at the forefront of science. By focusing on the history of the Gemini ObservatoryÑtwin 8-meter telescopes located on mountain peaks in Hawaii and ChileÑGiant Telescopes tells the story behind the planning and construction of modern scientific tools, offering a detailed view of the technological and political transformation of astronomy in the postwar era. Drawing on interviews with participants and archival documents, W. Patrick McCray describes the ambitions and machinations of prominent astronomers, engineers, funding patrons, and politicians in their effort to construct a modern facility for cutting-edge scienceÑand to establish a model for international cooperation in the coming era of Òmegascience.Ó His account details the technological, institutional, cultural, and financial challenges that scientists faced while planning and building a new generation of giant telescopes. Besides exploring how and why scientists embraced the promise and potential of new technologies, he considers how these new tools affected what it means to be an astronomer. McCrayÕs book should interest anyone who desires a deeper understanding of the science, technology, and politics behind finding our place in the universe.

This book is uniquely about the relationship between the optical telescope and astronomy as they developed together. It covers the time between the telescope's pivotal invention in the 1600's up to the modern era of space-based telescopes. Over the intervening centuries, there were huge improvements in the optical resolution of telescopes, along with changes in their positioning and nature of application that forever altered the course of astronomy. For a long time, the field was an exclusive club for self-motivated stargazers who could afford to build their own telescopes. Many of these leisure-time scholars left their mark by virtue of their meticulous observations and record keeping. Although they would now be considered amateurs, these figures and their contributions were pivotal and are covered in this book alongside professionals, for the first time giving a complete picture of the history of telescopic science.

A history of the telescope includes discussion of such related topics as the dark-adapted human eye, interferometry, adaptive optics, and remote sensing.

This highly illustrated history of the telescope begins with pre-telescopic observatories and progresses to today`s most modern instruments, including the Hubble. The book examines the development of astronomical telescopes and provides a fascinating overview of the way astronomical telescopes and imaging have evolved with technology during the past 450 years.

With its clear skies and low humidity, the southwestern United States is an astronomer’s paradise where observatories like Kitt Peak have redefined the art of skywatching. The region is unique in its loose federation of like-minded research outposts and in the quantity and diversity of its observatories—places captured in this unique guidebook. Douglas Isbell and Stephen Strom, both intimately involved in southwestern astronomy, have written a practical guide to the major observatories of the region for those eager to learn what modern telescopes are doing, to understand the role each of these often quirky places has played in advancing our understanding of the cosmos, and hopefully to visit and see the tools of the astronomer up close. For each observatory, the authors describe its history, highlights of its contributions to astronomy—with an emphasis on recent results—and information for visitors. Also included are wide-ranging interviews with astronomers closely associated with each site. Observatories covered range from McDonald in Texas to Palomar in California, with significant outposts in between: Arizona’s Kitt Peak National Observatory southwest of Tucson, the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, and the Whipple Observatory outside Amado; and New Mexico’s Very Large Array near Socorro and Sacramento Peak close to Sunspot. In addition to describing these established institutions, they also take a look ahead to the most powerful ground-based telescope in the world just beginning to operate at full power on Mount Graham in Safford, Arizona. With more than three dozen illustrations, Observatories of the Southwest is accessible to amateur astronomers, tourists, students, and teachers—anyone fascinated with the contributions that astronomy has made to deepening our understanding of humanity’s place in the universe, whether exploring the solar system from Lowell Observatory or studying the birth of stars using the army of giant radio telescopes at the Very Large Array. This book aims to inspire visits to these sites by illuminating the major scientific questions being pursued every clear night beneath the dark skies of the Southwest and the amazing machinery that makes these pursuits possible.

The developing relationship between astronomical instruments and the structures that house them is discussed by an art historian who begins her narrative in Galileo's time and moves through the intervening centuries into our own day. "Early observatories were hardly more than observation platforms, built of wood and equipped with shutters or revolving roofs ..." writes Mrs. Donnelly. As telescopes increased in complexity and size, provision for a specially tailored physical setting became necessary. Mrs. Donnelly discusses the structural and artistic logic dictated by the maturing science and shows in textual descriptions and accompanying plates the results of this blending of science and architecture.