A picture of the Hubble Space Telescope (Courtesy to Microsoft Encarta for this photograph.)

The telescope makes far and faint objects appear brighter and bigger. They are typically used to observe the sky. Most telescopes work by collecting and magnifying visible light that is given off by stars or reflected from the surface of planets. These kind of instuments are called optical telescopes. A small magnifying lens called an eyepiece placed under the focus allows the image to be seen.

There are many different types of telescopes. Some big, some small. There are Optical Telescopes, Radio Telescopes, Infrared Telescopes, Ultraviolet Telescopes, X-Ray Telescopes, and Gamma-Ray Telescopes. Optical telescopes a radio waves. Infrared telescopes have the basic design of optical telescopes, but they have a detector at the focus which allows it to see only infrared light. Ultraviolet telescopes are like optical telescopes also, but they have a mirror that reflects ultraviolet light.

The Hubble Space Telescope was built in 1990, and it provides us with the best pictures of space so far. This because on the Earth's surface, the atmosphere creates a blanket that is hard to see through. The Hubble Space Telescope is outside of the atmosphere and it can take far clearer pictures.

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