A report on Light, Wavelength and Telescope

A triangular prism dispersing a beam of white light. The longer wavelengths (red) and the shorter wavelengths (blue) are separated.
The wavelength of a sine wave, λ, can be measured between any two points with the same phase, such as between crests (on top), or troughs (on bottom), or corresponding zero crossings as shown.
The 100-inch (2.54 m) Hooker reflecting telescope at Mount Wilson Observatory near Los Angeles, USA, used by Edwin Hubble to measure galaxy redshifts and discover the general expansion of the universe.
The electromagnetic spectrum, with the visible portion highlighted
Sinusoidal standing waves in a box that constrains the end points to be nodes will have an integer number of half wavelengths fitting in the box.
17th century telescope
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A standing wave (black) depicted as the sum of two propagating waves traveling in opposite directions (red and blue)
The 60-inch Hale (debuted in 1908) considered to be the first modern large research reflecting telescope.
Beam of sun light inside the cavity of Rocca ill'Abissu at Fondachelli-Fantina, Sicily
Wavelength is decreased in a medium with slower propagation.
The primary mirror assembly of James Webb Space Telescope under construction. This is a segmented mirror and its coated with Gold to reflect (orange-red) visible light, through near-infrared to the mid-infrared
Due to refraction, the straw dipped in water appears bent and the ruler scale compressed when viewed from a shallow angle.
Refraction: upon entering a medium where its speed is lower, the wave changes direction.
Modern telescopes typically use CCDs instead of film for recording images. This is the sensor array in the Kepler spacecraft.
Hong Kong illuminated by colourful artificial lighting.
Separation of colors by a prism (click for animation)
A 1.2-meter (47 in) reflecting telescope
Pierre Gassendi.
Various local wavelengths on a crest-to-crest basis in an ocean wave approaching shore
Binoculars
Christiaan Huygens.
A sinusoidal wave travelling in a nonuniform medium, with loss
The Very Large Array at Socorro, New Mexico, United States.
Thomas Young's sketch of a double-slit experiment showing diffraction. Young's experiments supported the theory that light consists of waves.
A wave on a line of atoms can be interpreted according to a variety of wavelengths.
Einstein Observatory was a space-based focusing optical X-ray telescope from 1978.
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Near-periodic waves over shallow water
The Compton Gamma Ray Observatory is released into orbit by the Space Shutte in 1991, and it would operate until the year 2000
Wavelength of a periodic but non-sinusoidal waveform.
The reflectors of HEGRA detect flashes of light in the atmosphere, thus detecting high energy particles
A propagating wave packet
Equatorial-mounted Keplerian telescope
Pattern of light intensity on a screen for light passing through two slits. The labels on the right refer to the difference of the path lengths from the two slits, which are idealized here as point sources.
A diagram of the electromagnetic spectrum with the Earth's atmospheric transmittance (or opacity) and the types of telescopes used to image parts of the spectrum.
Diffraction pattern of a double slit has a single-slit envelope.
Six views of the Crab nebula supernova remnant, viewed at different wavelengths of light by various telescopes
Relationship between wavelength, angular wavelength, and other wave properties.
The Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope in Guizhou, China, is the world's largest filled-aperture radio telescope

Visible light is usually defined as having wavelengths in the range of 400–700 nanometres (nm), corresponding to frequencies of 750–420 terahertz, between the infrared (with longer wavelengths) and the ultraviolet (with shorter wavelengths).

- Light

Examples of waves are sound waves, light, water waves and periodic electrical signals in a conductor.

- Wavelength

Using a telescope, Rømer observed the motions of Jupiter and one of its moons, Io.

- Light

Optical telescopes, using visible light

- Telescope

The dishes are sometimes constructed of a conductive wire mesh whose openings are smaller than the wavelength being observed.

- Telescope

Diffraction is the fundamental limitation on the resolving power of optical instruments, such as telescopes (including radiotelescopes) and microscopes.

- Wavelength
A triangular prism dispersing a beam of white light. The longer wavelengths (red) and the shorter wavelengths (blue) are separated.

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The electromagnetic spectrum

Electromagnetic spectrum

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The electromagnetic spectrum
A diagram of the electromagnetic spectrum, showing various properties across the range of frequencies and wavelengths
Plot of Earth's atmospheric opacity to various wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation. This is the surface-to-space opacity, the atmosphere is transparent to longwave radio transmissions within the troposphere but opaque to space due to the ionosphere.
Plot of atmospheric opacity for terrestrial to terrestrial transmission showing the molecules responsible for some of the resonances
The amount of penetration of UV relative to altitude in Earth's ozone

The electromagnetic spectrum is the range of frequencies (the spectrum) of electromagnetic radiation and their respective wavelengths and photon energies.

This frequency range is divided into separate bands, and the electromagnetic waves within each frequency band are called by different names; beginning at the low frequency (long wavelength) end of the spectrum these are: radio waves, microwaves, infrared, visible light, ultraviolet, X-rays, and gamma rays at the high-frequency (short wavelength) end.

Light was intensively studied from the beginning of the 17th century leading to the invention of important instruments like the telescope and microscope.