The following is a list of the largest optical reflecting telescopes sorted by mirror diameter. Note that two of the first three are not yet operational. This list does not currently include telescopes that are still in the conceptual/proposed stage, such as the Overwhelmingly Large Telescope or the European Extremely Large Telescope; the design stage, such as the Thirty Meter Telescope; or ones still in the early stages of manufacturing such as the Giant Magellan Telescope.
The Hobby-Eberly Telescope is a 9.2 meter telescope located at the McDonald Observatory. It combines a number of features that differentiate it from most telescope designs, resulting in greatly lowered construction costs.
The Sky at Night is a monthly television programme on astronomy produced by the BBC. The show has had the same permanent presenter, Sir Patrick Moore, from its first airing on 24 April 1957, making it one of the longest-running programmes with the same presenter in television history.
The Large Binocular Telescope (LBT, originally named the Columbus Project) is located on 10,700-foot Mount Graham in the Pinaleno Mountains of southeastern Arizona and is a part of the Mount Graham International Observatory. As of 2008[update], the LBT is the world's highest resolution and most technologically advanced optical telescope, creating images in the near-infrared with 10 times the resolution of the Hubble Space Telescope
The William Herschel Telescope or WHT was first conceived in the late 1960s, when the Anglo-Australian Observatory was being designed. The British astronomical community saw the need for telescopes of comparable power in the Northern Hemisphere. Planning began in 1974, but by 1979 the project was on the verge of being scrapped due to a ballooning budget. A re-design cut the price-tag substantially, and Dutch astronomers took a 20% stake in the project, allowing the project to be given the go-ahead in 1981. That year was the 200th anniversary of the discovery of Uranus by William Herschel, and it was decided to name the telescope in his honour. The telescope is a member of the Isaac Newton Group of Telescopes.
The Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO) is a United States astronomical observatory located on a 2,096 m (6,880 ft) peak of the Quinlan Mountains in the Arizona-Sonoran Desert on the Tohono O'odham Nation, 88 kilometers (55 miles) southwest of Tucson. The observatory is considered to be part of the National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO), although some of the telescopes located here, like those at the MDM Observatory, belong to other groups such as the University of Arizona's Steward Observatory. With 23 telescopes, it is the largest, most diverse gathering of astronomical instruments in the world.
He was credited with creating and disseminating designs for the first practical telescope. Crude telescopes and spyglasses may have been created much earlier, but Lippershey is believed to be the first to apply for a patent for his design (beating Jacob Metius by a few weeks), and making it available for general use in 1608. He failed to receive a patent but was handsomely rewarded by the Dutch government for copies of his design. The "Dutch perspective glass", the telescope that Lippershey invented, could only magnify thrice.
Thomas Harriot (c. 1560 – 2 July 1621) was an English astronomer, mathematician, ethnographer, and translator. Some sources give his surname as Harriott or Hariot. He is sometimes credited with the introduction of the potato to Great Britain and Ireland. After graduating from the Oxford University, Harriot traveled to the Americas on expeditions funded by Raleigh, and on his return he worked for the 9th Earl of Northumberland. At the Earl's house, he became a prolific mathematician and astronomer to whom the theory of refraction is attributed.