Telescope

A Bwujan telescope.

A telescope was a device used to observe astronomical objects by refracting light through glass lenses. It could magnify images significantly more than a pair of binoculars.

History and specifics

Circa 4700 BC, priest-astronomers on Bwuja spotted an approaching radiation cloud from an ancient supernova, giving them three centuries to devise a means of survival. (TOS comic: "The World Beneath the Waves")

In the 14th century, Odette kept her telescope and her grandfather's Ressikan flute in her lab while she worked to develop the Kataan probe on Kataan. A millennia later, when Captain Jean-Luc Picard later experienced life on Kataan as Kamin via Odette's probe in 2368, Picard built a refracting telescope in his own laboratory. (TNG episode: "The Inner Light")

In the 17th century, Galileo Galilei observed the movement of Jupiter's moons Io and Ganymede through his telescope. (TOS novelization: The Motion Picture) He was the first Human to see that world's four largest satellites. (Decipher RPG module: Worlds)

In the 18th century, scientists used telescopes to search for a predicted planet between Mars and Jupiter, instead discovering several large asteroids. (TNG - SA novel: The Haunted Starship)

In the 20th century, Rain Robinson's brother had a telescope powerful enough to see Saturn's rings, which inspired her to become an astronomer. (VOY episode: "Future's End")

In the 21st century, Earth optical telescopes detected two large planets in the Alpha Centauri system. Over the next few decades, three other worlds were spotted there via liquid vacuum telescopes operated from Luna. (TOS novel: Federation)

Zephram Cochrane looking through the eyepiece of his telescope.

In 2063, Zephram Cochrane spotted the USS Enterprise-E in orbit with his telescope. Seeing it provided concrete evidence that an away team was visiting him from the 24th century. (TNG movie, novelization & comic adaptation: Star Trek First Contact)

On Kujal, the Kujalans learned the cause of their shrinking by observing their sun through a telescope in their observatory. (TOS comic: "Dwarf Planet")

On Goran IV, the telescope was invented by Gorman in the 23rd century. (TOS comic: "The Long Night's Dawn!")

In the 2240s, Lieutenant Piotr Nolokov enjoyed using his refractor telescope on Tarsus IV. (DSC novel: Drastic Measures)

As a young boy, the USS Lexington's Chief Science Officer Lee Sterling stargazed avidly. From Earth one evening, he and Casey O'Connor were able to see the USS Constitution in an orbital drydock from a telescope. (FASA RPG module: Cadet's Orientation Sourcebook)

Pavel Chekov was similarly intrigued by space, and was six years old when he received his first telescope. (TOS novel: Pawns and Symbols)

In the 2250s, Captain Philippa Georgiou kept an antique telescope in her ready room aboard the USS Shenzhou. (DSC novel: Fear Itself, DSC episode: "The Vulcan Hello")

In 2264, orbital telescopes detected a rogue pulsar approaching Mestiko. The USS Enterprise attempted to shield the planet from extinction-level radiation, but was only partially successful. (TOS - Mere Anarchy eBook: Things Fall Apart)

A Slaver weapon found in a Slaver stasis box in 2270 could be configured into a telescope. (TAS episode & Log Ten novelization: The Slaver Weapon)

A recreational telescope was installed on level 15 of spacelab Regula I. (FASA RPG module: Regula-1 Orbital Station Deckplans)

By the 2280s, Salazaar provided numerous optical telescopes for scientific use. (FASA RPG module: The Federation)

In 2376, USS Voyager was spotted through telescopes on a time differential planet in the Delta Quadrant. From the natives' point of view, it was visible overhead for centuries. (VOY episode: "Blink of an Eye")

See also: graviton telescope, neutrino telescope, radio telescope, subspace telescope

Notable telescopes

• Argos telescope, Earth (TOS - SA novel: The Assassination Game)
• Heyer Array, Izar system
• Hubble Space Telescope, Earth

Appendices

Appearances and references

• TAS episode: "The Magicks of Megas-tu"
• TAS episode: "The Slaver Weapon"
• TAS episode: "The Eye of the Beholder"
• TOS novel: Planet of Judgment
• TOS novel: The Starless World
• TOS novelization: The Motion Picture
• TOS novel: Shadow Lord
• TOS novel: The Weight of Worlds
• TOS novel: The Face of the Unknown
• TOS - The New Voyages 2 short story: "The Sleeping God"
• TOS comic: "Dwarf Planet"
• TOS comic: "The Evictors"
• TOS comic: "The World Beneath the Waves"
• TOS comic: "Prince Traitor"
• TOS comic: "The Long Night's Dawn!"
• TOS - Star Trek: The Manga - Uchu comic: "Inalienable Rights"
• TOS - Waypoint comic: "Come Away, Child"
• TOS video game: 25th Anniversary
• TNG novel: Metamorphosis
• TNG novel: Triangle: Imzadi II
• TNG novel: Indistinguishable from Magic
• TNG novel: Available Light
• TNG - Myriad Universes novella: Brave New World
• TNG short story: "The Simulation"
• TNG reference: On Board the USS Enterprise
• VOY novel: Pathways
• VOY - Distant Shores short story: "Eighteen Minutes"
• ENT - Rise of the Federation novel: Tower of Babel
• ENT - Rise of the Federation novel: Uncertain Logic
• TLE novel: The Sundered
• DSC novel: Desperate Hours
• DSC novel: Drastic Measures
• DSC novel: Fear Itself
• DSC novel: Wonderlands
• LD episode: "Temporal Edict"
• GKN novel: Enemy Territory
• NF novel: Being Human
• FASA RPG module: Cadet's Orientation Sourcebook

External links

• Telescope article at Memory Alpha, the wiki for canon Star Trek.
• Telescope article at Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.