Reflecting the Universe: building the world’s largest telescopes
For hundreds of years, telescopes have helped astronomers unravel the mysteries of the Universe. But what’s involved in making – and maintaining – the complex instruments of today?
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For hundreds of years, telescopes have helped astronomers unravel the mysteries of the Universe. But what’s involved in making – and maintaining – the complex instruments of today?
Exploring visual acuity requires not only biological experiments, but also some understanding of the underlying physics.
For thousands of years, nature has produced brilliant visual effects. What is the physical principle behind it and how can we use it?
Measuring the temperature inside a fusion reactor is no easy task. Find out how it’s done – and even simulate it in the classroom.
In the third article in this series on astronomy and the electromagnetic spectrum, learn about the exotic and powerful cosmic phenomena that astronomers investigate with X-ray and gamma-ray observatories, including the European Space Agency’s XMM-Newton and INTEGRAL missions.
To make the two-dimensional images that we see in print and on screen appear more real, we can hijack our brains to create the illusion of a third dimension, depth. These activities explore the physics that make this possible.
Nektarios Tsagliotis explains how to build an effective microscope using simple materials – enabling your students to discover a hidden world, just as Robert Hooke did in 1665.
Nataša Gros, Tim Harrison, Irena Štrumbelj Drusany and Alma Kapun Dolinar introduce a selection of experiments with a simple spectrometer designed especially for schools – and give details of how to perform one of the activities.
Reflecting the Universe: building the world’s largest telescopes
Sharp eyes: how well can we really see?
Structural colour: peacocks, Romans and Robert Hooke
A thermometer that goes to 200 million degrees
More than meets the eye: the exotic, high-energy Universe
Seeing is believing: 3D illusions
Build your own microscope: following in Robert Hooke’s footsteps
Spectrometry at school: hands-on experiments