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Published online 31 December 2008 | Nature 457, 18-25 (2009) | doi:10.1038/457018a
News Feature
Year of astronomy: New eyes, new skies
The next 40 years will see telescopes that far outstrip any ever seen before. Jeff Kanipe profiles four of them; illustrations by Lynette Cook.
The armillary and astrolabe are now seldom seen outside museums and antique shops; but the telescope, which joined them in the observatories of early modern Europe 400 years ago, is still at the centre of the astronomical world. In optical precision, in the wavelengths that are used and in their sheer size, they have changed almost beyond recognition (see page 28.
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Astronomers keep saying that the stars 10 or 15 billion light years away are at the beginning of the Universe, given a big bang. his is not remotely possible for it had to have had more than that much time to arrive out there.