oobject » most wonderful telescopes

most wonderful telescopes

As people blow each other to pieces, daily, on the planet below, the silently floating Hubble telescope seems to represent everything great about humankind. Here are our other favorite telescopes.

Update: Have been in continuous operation since 1963, the Arecibo project is in danger of closing due to cuts in funding. Jonathan, who is a researcher working at the Arecibo dish has posted a link in the comments to its website where you can donate or voice your support. http://www.arecibo-observatory.org

(Ranked by user votes) Vote on and review the contenders below.

Star of the X Files and James Bond Films the SETI hunting radio telescope at Arecibo in Puerto Rico used a natural, crater-like dip in the landscape, to hold the mesh for its giant dish.

Update: Have been in continuous operation since 1963, the Arecibo project is in danger of closing due to cuts in funding. Jonathan, who is a researcher working at the Arecibo dish has posted a link in the comments to its website where you can donate or voice your support. http://www.arecibo-observatory.org

Arecibo. more...

(votes: +276)

Hubble increased the known size of the Universe more than had ever been imagined by any religion. The Hubble telescope allowed us to se it. There is possibly nothing more wonderful that NASA have ever done.

The Hubble. more...

(votes: +59)

The South Pole telescope has been built where the lack of moisture in the air makes it free of interference.<p /><p />There is something both magnificent and creepy about such a gargantuan piece of engineering in a place so desolate and isolated.

The South Pole Telescope. more...

(votes: +26)

Optical telescope mirrors require an enormous amount of precision grinding when a solid mirror is used. A stable bed of mercury will produce a flat reflective surface much more easily. Proposals have even been made to put a giant liquid telescope on the moon.

NASA Liquid Mirror Telescope. more...

(votes: +26)

This telescope is as interesting as a piece of architecture as it is a science instrument. The telescope housing was designed by the legendary Bruce Graham while he was head of the architecture practice SOM. Graham developed the late brand of modernism that eventually became copied by the high tech movement.

McMath-Pierce Solar Telescope. more...

(votes: +22)

Due to launch in 2013 this successor to the Hubble will have six times the power but will operate in different wavelengths.

James Webb Space Telescope. more...

(votes: +20)

Like a giant ear trumpet, this bizarre piece of architecture earned Nobel prizes for its researchers when what they thought was interference from nesting pigeons turned out to be the echo of creation itself - the big bang.

The Horn Antenna. more...

(votes: +16)

If the somewhat unimaginatively but highly accurately named Extremely Large Telescope gets built it will be 100 times larger than current ground based optical telescopes and bigger even than the monstrously large Magellan.

The European Extremely Large Telescope. more...

(votes: +12)

Absolutely beautiful charcoal drawings showing cut-away sections of a ~~200~~ 48 inch telescope for Mt. Palomar

Russell Porter - Mt Palomar 48 inch drawings. more...

(votes: +12)

The Green Bank Telescope is the world’s largest fully steerable telescope and was built to replace the prior one which collapsed due to structural failure. It is illegal to broadcast radio signals near it.

Green Bank Telescope. more...

(votes: +10)

The mammoth GMT is scheduled to be completed in 2016. It will be 10 times more powerful than the Hubble.

Giant Magellan Telescope. more...

(votes: +9)

The only telescope to be official cockney rhyming slang for masturbation. In its day the world’s biggest, and still an icon.

Jodrell Bank. more...

(votes: +7)

Due to be launched next year (2008) this background radiation monitoring telescope will be the first space telescope from the European Space Agency.

Planck Telescope. more...

(votes: +5)

So called because at 100 inches it could spot what girls were wearing on 7th avenue.

Mount Wilson Hooker Telescope. more...

(votes: +4)

Perhaps someone can confirm this, but I presume this telescope is for detecting Neutrino decay in clear water.<p /><p />Obviously, its a curious and interesting device since most telescopes are high up and as far away from moisture, as possible.

Underwater telescope. more...

(votes: +2)

Weather balloons can reach extraordinary heights, so if stability is not so much an issue as atmospheric interference, then a balloon is a much cheaper way of getting high up.

Metereological balloon mounted telescope. more...

(votes: -1)