Astronomy

Option 2: Telescopes in Astronomy

View the following interactive multimedia located in the Classroom:

• Telescopes self-guided tutorial
• Light and Spectroscopy self-guided tutorial

Write a 1050- to 1,200-word paper in which you discuss the science of sunlight and stars. Include the following elements:

• Explain how the telescope changed our view of the universe and our place in it.
• Explain the major designs of telescopes and discuss their strengths and weaknesses.
• Describe the best places to build ground-based telescopes and why astronomers choose those places.
• Contrast the strengths and weaknesses between building telescopes on the Earth, in orbit, or even on the Moon.
• Explain how different frequencies of light tell more about the birth, life, and death in the nature and properties of the Sun, the stars, and the universe.
• Explain how telescopes manage to operate in wavelengths of light that stretch from radio waves to gamma rays.