TABLE OF CONTENTS: Preface 9
Chapter 1: The naked-eye universe 13
Chapter 2: The development of the telescope 25
Chapter 3: How a telescope works 37
Imaging
Refracting telescopes
Reflecting telescopes
Chapter 4: The perfect telescope 44
Diffraction and the perfect image
Resolution limit
Chapter 5: When good telescopes go bad 53
Aberrations
Field of view
Air turbulence
Chapter 6: Analysing the light 66
Imaging devices--the camera
Spectroscopy
Photometry
Polarimetry
Chapter 7: Interferometry 80
Interference--how light waves combine
Michelson interferometer
Michelson stellar interferometer
Imaging interferometry
Nulling interferometry
Chapter 8: So you want to build an observatory? 95
Making a mirror
Site selection
Mechanical engineering
Chapter 9: The Hubble Space Telescope 109
Chapter 10: Advanced telescope techniques 125
Lightweighting
Active optics
Segmented primaries
Adaptive optics
Laser guide stars
Chapter 11: Laser communications and remote sensing 140
Laser communications
Lidar
Chapter 12: Surveillance 149
Airborne surveillance
Space-based surveillance
Other surveillance methods
Laser weapons
Chapter 13: Non-traditional observatories 162
Liquid mirror telescopes
Solar telescopes
Seeing the invisible
Gravitational wave observatories
Chapter 14: Key discoveries 181
The Solar System and Pluto
Comet Halley
The first exo-solar planet
Milky Way black hole
Hubble Ultra-Deep Field
Hoag's Object
Chapter 15: Future telescopes 197
Wide-field wonders
Another pale blue dot
The big boys
One last word 217
Appendix A: Some mathematical basics 220
Appendix B: Electromagnetic radiation 226
Appendix C: Getting your own telescope 233
Notes 236
Bibliography 240
Index 243
Return to Book Description File created: 4/23/2008 | 
