Telescopes

Non optical telescopes are telescopes which are highly specialised telescopes and are extremely expensive. The telescopes are sophisticated and complicated enough to not have any application at small scale or more than that in amateur astronomy. There are different kind of telescopes and each one has specific task to do while they are contributing towards our understanding of the working universe.

Non Optical telescopes works in the wide range of Electromagnetic spectrum, of which the optical telescopes use only the special part which our eyes can perceive. The non optical part of the entire electromagnetic spectrum starting from Gamma rays to radio waves has many sections in between.

Here are list of some more popular categories of telescopes:

1. Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescope: it is a device or method to detect very-high-energy gamma ray photons in the photon energy range of 50 GeV to 50 TeV. There are four operating IACT systems: High Energy Stereoscopic System(H.E.S.S.), Major Atmospheric Gamma Imaging Cherenkov Telescopes(MAGIC), First G-APD Cherenkov Telescope(FACT), and Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System(VERITAS). Set to be the world’s largest telescope at the highest altitude, the Major Atmospheric Cherenkov Experiment Telescope (MACE) is built at Hanle, Ladakh, India. Also under design is the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA). In the case of the IACT, the Earth’s atmosphere is used as the detection medium, implying a collection area of many hundreds of square meters. This enables IACT instruments to detect gamma-ray photons in an energy regime inaccessible to space-based instruments.
2. Infrared Telescope: An infrared telescope is a telescope that uses infrared light to detect celestial bodies. Infrared light is one of several types of radiation present in the electromagnetic spectrum. All celestial objects with a temperature above absolute zero emit some form of electromagnetic radiation. In order to study the universe, scientists use several different types of telescopes to detect these different types of emitted radiation in the electromagnetic spectrum. Some of these are gamma ray, x-ray, ultra-violet, regular visible light (optical), as well as infrared telescopes.
3. Radio Telescope: A radio telescope is a specialized antenna and radio receiver used to receive radio waves from astronomical radio sources in the sky.[1][2][3] Radio telescopes are the main observing instrument used in radio astronomy, which studies the radio frequency portion of the electromagnetic spectrum emitted by astronomical objects, just as optical telescopes are the main observing instrument used in traditional optical astronomy which studies the light wave portion of the spectrum coming from astronomical objects. Radio telescopes are typically large parabolic (“dish”) antennas similar to those employed in tracking and communicating with satellites and space probes. They may be used singly or linked together electronically in an array. Unlike optical telescopes, radio telescopes can be used in the daytime as well as at night. Since astronomical radio sources such as planets, stars, nebulas and galaxies are very far away, the radio waves coming from them are extremely weak, so radio telescopes require very large antennas to collect enough radio energy to study them, and extremely sensitive receiving equipment. Radio observatories are preferentially located far from major centers of population to avoid electromagnetic interference (EMI) from radio, television, radar, motor vehicles, and other man-made electronic devices.
4. Ultraviolet Telescopes: Ultraviolet astronomy is the observation of electromagnetic radiation at ultraviolet wavelengths between approximately 10 and 320 nanometres; shorter wavelengths—higher energy photons—are studied by X-ray astronomy and gamma ray astronomy. Ultraviolet light is not visible to the human eye.[2] Most of the light at these wavelengths is absorbed by the Earth’s atmosphere, so observations at these wavelengths must be performed from the upper atmosphere or from space. The ultraviolet universe looks quite different from the familiar stars and galaxies seen in visible light. Most stars are actually relatively cool objects emitting much of their electromagnetic radiation in the visible or near-infrared part of the spectrum. Ultraviolet radiation is the signature of hotter objects, typically in the early and late stages of their evolution. In the Earth’s sky seen in ultraviolet light, most stars would fade in prominence. Some very young massive stars and some very old stars and galaxies, growing hotter and producing higher-energy radiation near their birth or death, would be visible. Clouds of gas and dust would block the vision in many directions along the Milky Way.
5. X-ray Telescopes: An X-ray telescope (XRT) is a telescope that is designed to observe remote objects in the X-ray spectrum. In order to get above the Earth’s atmosphere, which is opaque to X-rays, X-ray telescopes must be mounted on high altitude rockets, balloons or artificial satellites. The basic elements of the telescope are the optics (focusing or collimating), that collects the radiation entering the telescope, and the detector, on which the radiation is collected and measured. A variety of different designs and technologies have been used for these elements. Many of the existing telescopes on satellites are compounded of multiple copies or variations of a detector-telescope system, whose capabilities add or complement each other and additional fixed or removable elements (filters, spectrometers) that add functionalities to the instrument.