Thames & Kosmos My Discovery User manual

Hubble Telescope
Galileo Galilei
Introduction
A telescope is a device that allows you get a better
look at far away objects by enlarging them. Your
telescope is a type of telescope called a refracting
telescope. Telescopes are the most important
optical instruments in astronomy, the branch of
science that deals with celestial objects, outer
space, and the universe as a whole. Some
telescopes are really famous, like the Hubble
Space Telescope, which is out in space and sends
back amazing pictures of very distant stars.
Telescopes have been around for
about 400 years. We don’t know
exactly who invented them.
However, Galileo Galilei (who
lived from 1564 to 1642) was the
first person to explore the sky
using the device. Among other
things, he examined the surface
of the moon and discovered that it had mountains and craters. This
was an important step for astronomy.
Of course, your telescope isn’t just for looking at the night sky. You
can also use it to look at objects on Earth in the distance that you
would like to look at more closely. Scientists call this terrestrial
observation (from the Latin
terra = earth). But it can also be used
whenever you are too far away from the action. So, for example, you
can use your telescope if you are
sitting high up in the stands at a
soccer or baseball game and you
want to have a closer look at the
players on the field.
Have you ever wanted to be able to take a closer look
at things that are far away? The Moon and stars, for
example? Or a bird perched up in a tree? Or a boat
sailing out on the open ocean? Now you can do all of
this with the My Discovery Telescope!
Telescope
My Discovery
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WARNING! Never look directly at the sun
either with the naked eye or with the telescope!
There is a risk of blinding!
Do not place near windows or in direct sunlight.
Magnified light may result in a risk of fire.
WARNING! Not suitable for children under
3 years. Choking hazard — small parts
may be swallowed or inhaled. Keep the
packaging and instructions as they
contain important information.
Galileo Galilei
My Discovery Telescope
How do you use
a telescope?
Your telescope has a twelve-times magnification
power. This means that you can see objects
roughly twelve times larger through the
telescope than you can with just your eyes alone.
In order to look at an object, hold your telescope
so that the dew shield and the objective lens are
pointing away from you and facing toward the
object. Press the eye cup firmly around either of
your eyes (whichever works best for you) when
you do this. The eye cup is specially shaped and
soft, so you can comfortably press it to your eye
socket. This is ideal for observing things because
it means no light can enter into your eye from the
side. Choose which eye is best for you.
The object that you want to look at should be at
least five meters (or about 15 feet) away. Now use
your other free hand to slide the wide part of the
telescope at the front (called the tube) backward
or forward until you can see the object in focus.
The front of your telescope, which points toward
the object you are looking at, is called the
objective. Here, there is a large converging lens
that bundles the light rays. Inside your telescope,
there are also some rings called baffles. These
allow only the bundled light rays to pass through
the middle and eliminate the light rays around the
edges (called scattered light). At the other end
(the end you look into), there is another lens,
which, on a Galilean telescope, is called a
diverging lens. As this lens is in the eyepiece, it is
called the eyepiece lens or ocular lens (from the
Latin
oculus = eye).
When you slide the two parts of the telescope
toward each other, you are reducing the distance
between the two lenses. This allows you to bring
the image that you want to look at into focus.
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Text: Inka Kiefert and Mark Bachofer
Project management: Dr. Mark Bachofer
Technical product development: Dr. Petra Zimmermann
Manual design concept: Atelier Bea Klenk, Berlin
Manual layout: Mariela Schwerdt, Design & Feinschliff Studio, Stuttgart
Manual illustrations: Friedrich Werth, Horb
Manual photos: dlognord (moon) © fotolia.com; Lucky water (branch); xpixel (moss);
Marco.Warm (beech leaves); Olga Popova (pine branch); Viktor Tyakht (bird) (all previous ©
shutterstock.com); Michael Flaig, Stuttgart (telescope); all others Kosmos Photo Archive
Translation: Stephen O’Connor
Design editing: Pamela Evans, Ted McGuire
Additional packaging design: Dan Freitas
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2nd US Edition © 2019, 2020 Thames & Kosmos, LLC, Providence, RI, USA
Thames & Kosmos® is a registered trademark of Thames & Kosmos, LLC.
Distributed in North America by Thames & Kosmos, LLC. Providence, RI 02903;
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We reserve the right to make technical changes.
The light rays are a long way apart. You capture these rays using the
objective and the lenses bring them closer and closer together. They
are then so close together in the eyepiece that you can now see
them much more clearly with your eye.
When observing, it helps if you can keep your telescope still. It is not
easy to hold your telescope without wobbling, even though your
telescope is not particularly heavy. Try resting the elbow of the arm
you are using to hold the telescope on a wall, on a parked car, a
stable tree branch, or something similar. It is best to try it out and
see what works best.
Happy
exploring!
Classic refracting telescope (Galilean telescope)
Eyepiece lens
Telescope tube (with baffles inside) Dew shield
Light rays
Baffles Eyepiece lens
(Diverging lens)
Objective lens
(Converging lens)
Objective lens
Metal focuser (slide to focus)Eyepiece with soft eye cup
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