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How a telescope works
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light from the lamp (top)
from the middle
from the base (bottom)
normal line
Magnification
—
Picture you see
—
Gap between lenses
—
Focus point of big lens
—
Blur
—
The thick ray, surface by surface
Drag to orbit · scroll to zoom · right-drag to pan · ←/→ turns the focus knob · space pauses the light
Build your telescope
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Type
Kepler
Galileo
Big lens (objective)
16 cm
20
30
Small lens (eyepiece)
4 cm
5
8
Lamp rays
Middle rays
Base rays
Wavefronts
Normal lines
Thick ray
Labels
Rainbow light
Boost colours ×15
Cut-away
Pause light
Whole telescope
Lens edge
Focus point
Eyepiece & eye
Lighthouse
Focus knob
0.0 cm
Auto-focus
Lighthouse size
2.0°
Thick ray
What your eye sees