The largest telescope ever built, using lenses, is 40 inches, or about 1 meter. However, if you make a lens too big, it can sag, since glass is a liquid and can deform. Typically, the smallest telescopes are 2 lenses, one in front of the other. But where do we currently stand? What are the best telescopes that are still performing science in the world?įirst, a note on how we build big telescopes. Now, we stand on the brink of another revolution in telescopes, as construction of the world’s first 30-40 meter class optical telescopes is well and truly under way. From the first refracting telescope designed by Hans Lippershay, Sacharias Jansen and Jacob Metius of Alkmaar in 1608, which used 2 small pieces of glass to magnify objects, to Sir Isaac Newton building the first reflecting telescope, which used mirrors instead of lenses (with a lens diameter of 2 inches, or 0.05 m), in 1668, to the Leviathan of Parsonstown, which was a 72 inch telescope (1.8 m) telescope build in Ireland in 1845, telescopes have just been getting bigger and bigger.
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