How would our knowledge be limited without telescopes?
It is easily argued that the greatest technological breakthrough in Astronomy was the invention of the telescope. How would our knowledge be limited without telescopes?
There where no Telescopes in the Mayan era, and they are considered excellent students of the skies. Astronomy dates back to the beggining of earth. Many civilizations based their believes and philosophies in the study of astronomy. So, we can say that, telescope extended, like any other instrument in sciences, the field of studies, but I don’t believe that without it, there will be limitations.
we couldnt see the planets
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i would not know when the neighbors were having freaky sex
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Without telescopes we would not be able to know things about the farthest planets out in our solar system and we probably wouldn’t know that pluto or other bodies out there existed. Without telescopes we probably wouldn’t be able to see things past saturn and we would no very little about any planet other then our own.
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Presumably without lenses we would have no microscopes either. So not only would we be ignorant of distant galaxies, but we’d be ignorant of germs.
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Well, a telescope was one of the early links in the domino effect that led to the scientific revolution. You can’t say for sure how things would be now if thing X had never happened because who’s to say that something else might have happened in stead to get us right to where we are today anyway….
Gallileo’s discovery of bodies orbiting Jupiter sent shockwaves through society – this represented a questioning of the establishment’s authority. This in turn loosened their grip on society, allowing for more discoveries, etc, and not only in astronomy.
Speaking strictly about astronomy, we wouldn’t know about extrasolar planets, we wouldn’t know that the planets beyond Saturn exist. We might not have ever bothered to send out probes into space, since it would have been quite difficult to pinpoint the planets for rendezvous. These probes most surely would need to be landers, since without telescope technology, no useful pictures of them could be taken from space, even in orbit around them.
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There where no telescopes in the Mayan era, and they are considered excellent students of the skies. Astronomy dates back to the beggining of earth. Many civilizations based their believes and philosophies in the study of astronomy. So, we can say that, telescope extended, like any other instrument in sciences, the field of studies, but I don’t believe that without it, there will be limitations.
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without the invention of a telescope, we would still not understand that the earth is not the center of the universe, that the nine planets revolve around the sun, that heaven is not above the clouds, and that the stars dont move and do eventually die out. it was a very important discovery.
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The telescope was an early milestone for science. It provided our first modern researchers with the popular means to question religious dogma; and, by doing do created the path for enlightenment to take hold. Back when Galileo first looked through a telescope, he did so in a world where religion claimed sole possession to all of the answers. The power of religion at the time within western civilization was enormous – they were literally the king makers. There was little need for earthly research, since all had been revealed through religion.
But, how do you explain away what can so easily be seen at plain sight? The telescope and other early scientific accomplishments, led into many new fields of learning. Religion could no longer provide satisfactory answers to explain it all and It wasn’t long before it was forced to release its monopoly on information. Science was finally free to pursue learning – in whatever direction their discoveries led them. Ultimately, both science and religion would help to explain human experience.
Unfortunately, this was a gradual process and people like Galileo suffered greatly at the clash of these two irresitible forces.
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All of the above answers deal with the great discoveries and the changes in philosophy brought about by the telescope.
But yet, since it’s invention, something like 90% or more of the work done with telescopes is devoted to the mundane task of positional Astronomy. That is, increasing the accuracy of locating things in the sky. Without this positional accuracy, accurate navigation on the high seas and now in space would not be possible. Also, the accurate measurement of time is due to Astronomical observations.
These are just two of the very practical results due to the invention of the Telescope.
Adolph
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