How a telescope works: Your window to the stars

This children’s article, How a telescope works: Your window to the stars, has been written for native English speakers and learners of English as a second or foreign language. It can help children build vocabulary, learn about space, and discover how telescopes work. Written by Mark Pulley, a teacher and writer who creates fun and informative news articles for English learners.

The magic of telescopes

Have you ever looked up at the night sky and wondered what’s out there? Using only your eyes, you can see the Moon, some planets, and twinkling stars. But with a telescope, it feels like you have a superpower; you can now see deep into the Universe.

Telescopes are one of the coolest inventions ever. They let us see faraway galaxies, colourful nebulae, and even investigate some craters on the Moon. Astronomers, both professional and amateur, use them to explore space, study planets, and make discoveries about our universe.

How telescopes work

A telescope’s job is simple but clever: it gathers light. The bigger the telescope’s lens or mirror, the more light it can catch. That’s why a huge telescope can see galaxies millions of light-years away.

There are two main types of telescopes: refracting telescopes, which use glass lenses, and reflecting telescopes, which use mirrors. Both types bend or refract light to make faraway objects appear much larger and clearer to our eyes.

A history of telescopes

The first telescope was made in the early 1600s. A Dutch optician, Hans Lippershey, is often credited with inventing it, though it was Galileo Galilei who made telescopes famous. Galileo used one to discover four of Jupiter’s moons and show that not everything revolved around the Earth.

Since then, telescopes have grown much bigger and more powerful. Some, like the Hubble Space Telescope, even orbit Earth, giving us clear views of space without clouds or atmosphere blocking the light.

The future of telescopes

Today, scientists are building telescopes that are larger than ever. The James Webb Space Telescope, launched in 2021, can see light from the very beginning of the universe. That means we can learn more about how stars and galaxies were born.

In the future, telescopes will keep helping us solve mysteries, find new planets and search for signs of life. Every time we point a telescope at the sky, there’s a chance to discover something amazing.

Article vocabulary list

• Astronomer: A scientist who studies stars, planets, and space.
• Galaxy: A huge collection of stars, gas, and dust, held together by gravity.
• Nebula: A colourful cloud of gas and dust in space where stars are born.
• Lens: A piece of glass that bends light.
• Mirror: A shiny surface that reflects light.
• Refracting telescope: A telescope that uses lenses to focus light.
• Reflecting telescope: A telescope that uses mirrors to focus light.
• Orbit: The path one object takes as it goes around another, like the Moon around Earth.

Comprehension questions

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