Instruments Used in Astronomy

INSTRUMENTS USED IN ASTRONOMY
 The Astrolabe : A kind of moveable armillary, customized for stellar observation was
the astrolabe. The instrument had a single ring which hung in a perpendicular plane
and balanced by a small hook or "eye”. At the center of the ring, a rod was pivoted
which was equal in length to the ring diameter, carrying sights at either end. An
angular scale emblazoned on the armillary ring depicted the object's height, when
aligned on a star or planet.
 The Gnomon: The gnomon and the armillary sphere were the

fundamental instruments in ancient days. The gnomon was simply a pointed
perpendicular column of known height erected on a flat plane used primarily to show
time. With the direction of the shadow cast at noon, the north-south line was
recognized allowing the azimuths (angular directions) of objects on the earth's surface
to be calculated. By understanding the height of the gnomon, the lengths of the
shortest and longest noon shadows observed during the year, the angle of the ecliptic
plane (the plane containing the apparent path of the sun) to the earth's equatorial
plane and the latitude of the observer were anticipated. The length of the tropical year
was calculated by the time interval between consecutive observations of the longest or
shortest noon shadows.

 The Armillary Sphere: The armillary sphere was probably invented to increase the
precision of the results attained by the gnomon and to increase observations to the
sun and the star. The most ancient armillary, a solar instrument, comprises of two
bronze concentric rings, few feet in diameter, mounted in the plane of the meridian.
The inner ring turned within the outer ring and carried two small pegs mounted at
opposite ends of a diameter. The inner ring was attuned until the shadow cast by the
upper peg fell on the lower peg. An angular scale on the outer ring, alienated into
degrees, showed the meridian altitude of the sun. Ancient astronomers may have used
this type of armillary, instead of a gnomon, to choose the angle of the ecliptic plane.
One more type of solar armillary, with which ancient astronomers was probably
familiar, might have had a single ring mounted in the plane of the celestial equator.
The length of the tropical year can be determined with such an instrument since the
shadow of the upper half of the ring falls on the inner surface of the lower half when
the sun is at either equinox. Armillaries designed for stellar observation, were very
much complex. They consisted of a number of rings, the largest of which was mounted
on a stand and attuned to rest in the plane of the meridian.

 The Quadrant: Ptolemy was the final Greek astronomer of ancient times who made a
good contribution for the development of astronomical instruments in second century.
Ptolemy, in his astronomical documents, stated regarding three new instruments: the
quadrant, the triquetrum, and the astrolabium, or astrolabe in his astronomical writings.
Since it was initially used, the plane of the quadrant was adjusted to lie in the plane of
the meridian. Vertical alignment was shown by a plumb-bob poised from the
quadrant's center. Pivoted from this center was one end of a movable rod just about
equal in length to the radius of the quadrant. Sights mounted on the rod allowes
observations to be made of stars and planets as they crossed the observer's meridian,
and an angular scale emblazoned on the margin of the quadrant denoted their
meridian altitudes. However, nobody knows whether Ptolemy really constructed such
an instrument or not. Later, the Arabians took on the notion of the quadrant and
developed its design to a greater extent. Specifically, quadrants that could rotate about
a perpendicular axis were developed.

 The Triquetrum: The triquetrum of Ptolemy executed the similar task as the quadrant
and was invented to conquer the complexity of marking off arcs and circles. Typically,
it had a perpendicular post to which two crisscross rods or arms were hinged, the
upper arm bearing sights. Based on the understanding of the lengths of the arms and
the distances between the hinges, the elevation of a celestial object can be predicted.
 Telescopes
Generally, telescopes are well thought-out to be one of the basic astronomical
instruments. Science historians outline the history of the telescope to have started
from mankind’s use of glass and lenses. According to historians, the first telescope was
invented in 1608 in Holland, while the identity of the exact inventor is in argument. In the
following years, Galileo Galilei, an Italian astronomer developed what is commonly
considered as an enhanced model of these former designs. Telescopesare usually
broken down into four categories:
 The Reflector: A reflecting telescope uses a mirror to collect light as a substitute of a
lens. This beats the difficulties inbuilt in supporting the lens in a refractor and
the lightlosses due to the light passing through the chunky pieces of glass. At the
bottom end of the telescope tube, the mirror of the reflector is present. The mirror is a
moderately thick, rigid disk of glass whose top surface has been exactly ground and
polished so as to reflect all the light falling on it to a focus near the top end of the
telescope tube. The crown surface is made highly reflecting by evaporating a thin film
of aluminum on to it in a void. Around its edge and back surface, the mirror can be
supported.
 The Refractor: The majority of the basic everyday telescopes and binoculars use
lenses to collect the light which can be viwed through an eyepiece. Astronomical
telescopes that use lenses in this way are called ‘refracting telescopes’ as the
objective lens (at the end furthest from the eye) refracts the light to a focus which is
exaggerated by the eyepiece. These days, astronomers do not use refractors very
much since if some one wished to collect a lot of light from a faint object he would
need a very large objective lens. The only way to support a large lens is around its
edge. The force of gravity would bend the lens away from its design shape when we
moved the telescope around the sky. The largest refractor in the world is the 40-inch
Yerkes refractor near Chicago in the USA. The largest in Britain is the 28-inch at the
Greenwich Observatory.
 The classical Cassegrain: In this type of telescope, the primary mirror is paraboloid
shaped. This conveys the lightof any object in the field of the telescope to a focus near
the top end of the tube, known as the prime focus. Using digital detectors called
“Charge Coupled Devices (CCDs)”, this is used on big telescopes to take pictures of
small areas of the sky,. CCDs substituted photographic plates as they are more
proficient. Since, any instrument at the prime focus will hinder the light on its way
towards the primary mirror; one cannot position large instruments there. As an
alternative, one can rest a smaller curved mirror, called the secondary, just inside the
telescope focus where it reflects the lightdown the telescope tube and through
a hole in the primary mirror to a focus just behind it, called the Cassegrain focus. Big
instruments, such as a spectrograph, can be positioned there. Regrettably, the field of
a classical Cassegrain telescope is diminutive.
 Radio telescopes: Many radio telescopes perform the similar way as an optical
reflecting telescope apart from the fact that the mirror is made out of metal, which
reflects the radio waves up to a detector at the prime focus. Some radiotelescopes are
single, large, steerable dishes and others are used as arrays whose signals can be
linked together to act as a single very large telescope with great resolution.
http://www.innovateus.net/space/what-are-various-types-astronomical-instruments

Instruments Used in Astronomy

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INSTRUMENTS USED IN ASTRONOMY

 The Gnomon: The gnomon and the armillary sphere were the

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