New Glossary: Guide to Major Telescopes

One of my favorite parts of being an astronomer is the opportunity to use large ground-based and space-based observatories to collect data. Our newest glossary describes some of the major telescopes used by astronomers. The list right now includes four exciting future telescopes: the Atacama Large Millimeter Array, the James Webb Space Telescope, the Thirty Meter Telescope, and the Giant Magellan Telescope, but this glossary will be expanded to include a large number of ground-based and space-based facilities.

GMT at Twilight (copyright Giant Magellan Telescope - GMTO Corporation)

An artist's conception of the Giant Magellan Telescope at twilight. Image copyright Giant Magellan Telescope - GMTO Corporation.

About Courtney Dressing

I am a fourth-year graduate student in the Astronomy Department at Harvard University. My research interests include exoplanets, habitability, and astrobiology. I received a master's degree in astronomy and astrophysics from Harvard University and a bachelor's degree in astrophysical sciences from Princeton University. At Princeton, I worked with Jill Knapp to study the magnetic activity of M dwarfs with white dwarf companions and with Dave Spiegel to model the habitability of terrestrial exoplanets. For my senior thesis, I worked with Ed Turner, Michael McElwain, and the SEEDS (Strategic Explorations of Exoplanets and Disks with Subaru) collaboration to directly image young Jovian exoplanets using the Subaru telescope. At Harvard, I am working with Dave Charbonneau to study the properties, frequency, and detectability of small planets orbiting small stars.

1 Comment

  1. The “glossary” link here does not work

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