Nicolaus Copernicus was the first astronomer to formulate a scientifically based heliocentric cosmology that displaced the Earth from the center of the universe. His epochal book, De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres), is often regarded as the starting point of modern astronomy and the defining epiphany that began the Scientific Revolution.
The Glass & Mirrors Toolkit
If you have access to some lenses and mirrors in your school science supply room, this set of demonstration activities will help your students understand more about how telescopes work, the differences between telescopes made with mirrors and those made with lenses, and how we are continuing the tradition of Galileo and Newton in building new telescopes today.
Big Questions
How do telescopes actually work?
Why are bigger telescopes better?
What’s the difference between telescopes made with lenses
(refractors) and telescopes made with a mirror (reflectors)?
How are the telescopes of Galileo and Newton similar to telescope
designs today?
Big Activity
Using a simple setup with lenses and
mirrors, demonstrate how a telescope collects
light, focuses it, and then magnifies the image.
Participants
Presenters: A minimum of one person.
Visitors: Up to 10 people
at a time is appropriate.
Duration
About 15 minutes.
The Glass and Mirrors manual
is a 34-page PDF file. Click here to
download.
Contributed by Astronomical
Society of the Pacific.
