Скачать или смотреть Lecture 15-Modern Telescopes: From Schmidt-Cassegrains to JWST (WNA Astronomy 25-26)

What do mirrors, lenses, and orbiting observatories have in common? They’re all part of our quest to see the universe more clearly.

In this podcast of the high school Astronomy course that I taught at West Nottingham Academy (2025–2026), we explore the game-changing power of catadioptric telescopes, those hybrid marvels that combine lenses and mirrors to give us crystal-clear cosmic views without the distortion. From Schmidt-Cassegrains to Maksutovs, these instruments revolutionized both amateur stargazing and professional astronomy.

Then we zoom out (literally and figuratively) to compare ground-based telescopes with their high-flying cousins: space telescopes like Hubble and James Webb. You’ll learn the advantages of staying on Earth (like upgrades and repairs) and the disadvantages (atmospheric blur, anyone?), along with what makes space-based observation so mind-blowingly powerful.

Whether you’re into telescope tech or just curious how we capture images of galaxies millions of light-years away, this episode will give you the tools and perspective to understand what it takes to observe the universe in high definition.

This podcast was created using Google Notebook LM (https://notebooklm.google) and Online Converter (https://onlineconverter.com).