OBJECTIVE: To construct a simple astronomical telescope.

THEORY: To truly understand what the sky and its lights are all about, human being eventually realized they could not just rely on their eyes. They had to develop tools to help explore what stretched far above them. The telescope was the key invention in the progress to modern astronomy, but it took many thousands of years before anyone succeeded in inventing one. Furthermore, the astronomical telescope is similar in design to the compound microscope. However, unlike the microscope, which is designed to view objects that are small and nearby, the telescope is designed to view objects that may be large, but are very far away, such as planets and stars. Its consists of two convex lenses. The objective lens whose power is low has a focal length, f0. The eyepiece whose power is high has a short focal length, fe. Therefore, f0 > fe. The distance between the objective lens and the eyepiece is (f 0+fe), which the principle focus of the objective lens, fois coincident with the principle focus of the eyepiece, f e. Both lenses have the same focal plane. Through diagram 1.1, the parallel rays of light from the distant object converge at the focal plane of the objective lens to form the first image, Q 1. Which is real, inverted and diminished. The first image, Q1 is at the focal plane of the eyepiece and hence, the final image, Q2 is inverted, virtual and magnified with respect to the original object. The final image, Q2is formed at infinity.

Q 2 , Final image

Q1, First image

DIAGRAM 1.1

Besides, the angular magnification, M, (also sometimes called magnifying power) produced by an optical instrument is defined as

An expression for the angular magnification produced by a telescope can easily be found by looking at ray diagrams. An astronomical telescope consists of a long focal length (low power) convex lens (the object lens or objective) and a short focal length (high power) convex lens, the eye lens. Consider three rays from the "top" point of a very distant object. (The "bottom" point of the object is assumed to beon the principal axis.) See diagram below. a is the angle subtended by the distant object at the objective. The angle which would be subtended by the distant object at the unaided eye of an observer is also a. The objective forms a real, inverted image of the distant object in its focal plane, as shown below.

This image is then observed using a simple microscope (the eye lens) usually adjusted so as to give a virtual image at infinity, as shown in the next diagram.

Putting these two ray diagrams together shows us the complete telescope "in normal adjustment" (with final image at infinity).

The diagram is not to scale: the angles a and b are in practice very small. Therefore a (in rad) = h/fo and b (in rad) = h/fe and the angular magnification is given by;

APPARATUS: Convex lens of large diameter, medium diameter and smaller diameter, translucent paper, and a lamp.

PROCEDURE: 1. The converging lenses of different focal length are given. The focal length of the lens is measured. Hence, power of the lens can be calculated. 2. A simple astronomical telescope is built and be tested by focusing on a distant object. The nature of the image is stated. 3. How can you increase the magnification power of a telescope? Test out your idea. Describe with the help of a diagram how you set up a simple astronomical telescope. RESULTS:

Lens A The Focal Length of The Lens Given, F/cm The Power of The Lens, P/D 37.0

Lens B 16.5

Lens C 9.0

Lens B&C Height of Image, Hi/cm Height of Object, Ho/cm Magnification, M 2.8

Lens A&B 4.5

Lens A&C 2.3

Lens C&B 1.7

Lens B&A 2.0

Lens C&A 1.1

3.5

3.5

3.5

3.5

3.5

3.5

CONCLUSION: Telescope is constructed from 2 converging lenses. Lens of low powered and high powered lenses are used in an astronomical telescope. To sum up, the objective lens has a long focal length and the eyepiece lens has a short focal length.