SC.3.E.5.5 Stars Seen Through Telescopes

SC.3.E.5.5 Investigate that the number of stars that can be seen through telescopes is dramatically greater than those seen by the unaided eye.

How Can Telescopes Help Us to See Stars?

During the day you can see the Sun in the sky. At night, you can see the stars. Sometimes, you see the Moon during the night, and sometimes you can see the Moon during the day.

When you go outside at night, and there are no clouds in the sky, you can see many stars. Stars are large objects in space that produce their own light. The Sun is the star at the center of our Solar System. The Sun appears so much larger than the other stars because it is the closest star to Earth.

With your eyes alone, you can see several thousand stars in the night sky. Using a telescope, you can see many, many more. Telescopes make far away objects look larger. Because stars are so far away, telescopes can’t make them look larger: they still appear as point of light. Telescopes do gather more light than the human eye, and so many more stars are seen through a telescope than with just your eye.

There are many billions of stars in our home galaxy, the Milky Way. With just your eyes, you can see several thousand. Using a telescope, you can see many thousands more.