"Exciting Developments in Telescopes"

"Exciting Developments in Telescopes"," Constant improving and updating has been followed by technological advancements in telescope design as well as functionality. An optical telescope's resolution - the ability to see fine detail - increases with mirror or lens size. This effect makes stars appear to twinkle at night. Astronomers use computers to analyze the blurring created by the atmosphere and compensate for it by rapidly distorting the mirrors in a reflecting telescope. Telescopes using adaptive optics can resolve something the size of a quarter at a distance of more than 50 kilometers (30 miles). A new technique in optical astronomy is to combine signals from telescopes in separate locations so that the resulting image is equal to that received from one giant telescope, a method called optical interferometry. The VLT combines the light from four 323-in (820-cm) telescopes and several smaller telescopes to produce an image equivalent to that of a 630-in (1,600-cm) telescope. Astronomers hope this technique will eventually make it possible to directly image small, Earth-sized planets orbiting distant stars. With these new developments, we are better able to understand our universe and how various planetary bodies are formed as well as how they co-exist with each other in the vastness of space. Things will change yet still in years to come, and we will start to see more and more of what we couldn't before. 

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TELESCOPE