The Top 10 Telescopes of All Time

A look back at the 400-year-old art of assisted sky-gazing

By Rebecca Boyle

Published Apr 10, 2009 6:20 PM EDT

Add Popular Science

Humans have been looking to the heavens for as long as we have had stories to tell about them. But the way we look up has come quite far in the past 400 years, since Galileo Galilei first pointed a spyglass to the sky.

In honor of the 400th anniversary of the telescope, Popular Science looks back on the top 10 observatories on Earth and beyond.

courtesy Gemini

courtesy ESO

courtesy NRAO

courtesy NASA

Courtesy ESA/CNES

Courtesy Keck Observatory

Courtesy the Los Angeles Public Library

courtesy Palomar Observatory

Courtesy the Franklin Institute, Philadelphia

NASA via Hubblesite.org