Huygens telescopes haven’t been very good, and now we think we know why

[Christiaan Huygens] He was a very decent mathematician and scientist by the standards of the seventeenth century. However, the telescopes he built were considered relatively poor in quality for the period. now, As mentioned before Science newsWe may know why. The famous Huygens may have needed corrective glasses all along.

Huygens is known, among other things, for his contribution to astronomy. He discovered Titan, the largest moon of Saturn, and also studied the planet’s rings. He achieved this despite telescopes being described at the time as noisy or much blurrier than they should have been.

Huygens has built two-lens telescopes, and will keep a table of lenses that need to be combined for different magnification levels. However, his calculations do not fit well with today’s understanding of optics. As it turns out, Huygens may have been short-sighted, which explains why his telescopes are so blurry. As for his vision, it was probably already sharp, due to the nature of his eyes. These support contemporary accounts that Huygens’ father was nearsighted, and the condition may have run in the family. According to astronomer Alexander Petrou’s calculations, Huygens may have 20/70 vision, as he can only read 20 feet what someone with “normal” vision can read from 70 feet away.

It’s a theory that answers a rather interesting puzzle from hundreds of years ago. These days, our problems with telescopes are getting more complicated. If only a simple pair of glasses could solve NASA’s problems!