History of discovery
The History of the Telescope
From Galileo first turning a spyglass on the sky in 1609 — finding craters on the Moon and moons around Jupiter — through William Herschel's reflecting telescopes, one of which discovered Uranus, to the segmented giants and space telescopes of today. Each leap in aperture opened new depths of the universe.
Astronomers, eras & methods
Across the history of discovery
Knowledge connections
- Associated withInstrumentation-Driven Discovery
- Associated withGalileo Galilei
- Associated withWilliam Herschel
Sources
The primary and reference sources this topic draws on.
- NASANational Aeronautics and Space Administration
Mission data, planetary science, space telescopes, and public-domain imagery.
Most NASA-produced imagery is in the public domain; individual items are checked for usage terms before publication.