Optics and Light
- Newton was fascinated by the nature of light and he did a lot of study on optics and light and had several papers on the subject.
- Newton concluded that colors were a component of white light by his well-known experiment. He used a prism to separate the white light into a rainbow and then he combined the colors back together again with another prism. At the time it was thought that the colors were caused by flaws in the glass.
- Newton therefore knew that chromatic aberration was
caused by refraction of the light as it passed through the
lens of the telescope.
Reflecting telescopes
- A reflecting telescope replaces the primary convex glass lens with a primary concave mirror that reflects the light.
- The idea of a reflecting telescope was conceived of by several men before Newton but James Gregory in 1663 was the only one to have actually designed one.
- So in 1668, Newton was the first to actually produce a successful reflecting telescope.
- Newton's second telescope was examined by the Royal Society and shown to King Charles II in 1671 and it created a stir of excitement.
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Concept
of Reflecting Telescope
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