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Ellis Abel Learns.

In my own words · Pittsburgh, PA

Why I love telescopes

Twelve gold-coated hexagonal mirror segments of the James Webb Space Telescope installed side by side on the telescope's backplane at Goddard. Real NASA photograph used on the Ellis Abel Learns "Why I Love Telescopes" page — read by families in Pittsburgh, PA.
Twelve gold-coated hexagonal mirror segments of the James Webb Space Telescope installed side by side on the telescope's backplane at Goddard. NASA · Public domain
  • It catches more light than my eye can.
  • Bigger glass means I can see farther back in time.
  • Someone built this by hand and pointed it at the sky.

You can love telescopes in Pittsburgh.

What it really is

A telescope gathers light over a large area and brings it to one point.

Three things to try today

  1. Look through anything curved and see what it does to light.
  2. Find out the size of the biggest telescope on earth.
  3. Look at the Moon through binoculars.
A technician examines the instrument mounting structure and bulkhead of the German-built infrared telescope inside NASA's SOFIA aircraft. Real NASA photograph used on the Ellis Abel Learns "Why I Love Telescopes" page — read by families in Pittsburgh, PA.
A technician examines the instrument mounting structure and bulkhead of the German-built infrared telescope inside NASA's SOFIA aircraft. NASA · Public domain

For the grown-up reading this

A child in Pittsburgh, PA who loves telescopes is not unusual. A child in Pittsburgh, PA who is told that loving telescopes is unusual — that is the problem. The Pittsburgh, PA metro area has about 2,421,992 residents, ranking 28th in the country.

Aperture, not magnification, is the number that matters. Say so early.

If the kid who loves this is a girl

Read what one popular teacher said to one little girl who took out the classroom trash without being asked — and what that girl did with the rest of her life.

Girls are great at math — Pittsburgh, PA →

Love something else too

The Cold Atom Laboratory, two white equipment containers packed with lasers and vacuum hardware, on a bench before flight. Real NASA photograph used on the Ellis Abel Learns "Why I Love Physics" page — read by families in Pittsburgh, PA.Why I love physicsFive labeled water-quality sample bottles lined up in a bag, ready to be carried to the laboratory for analysis. Real USGS photograph used on the Ellis Abel Learns "Why I Love Chemistry" page — read by families in Pittsburgh, PA.Why I love chemistryA Keyence optical microscope set up on a laboratory bench with its monitor and sample stage. Real USGS photograph used on the Ellis Abel Learns "Why I Love Microscopes" page — read by families in Pittsburgh, PA.Why I love microscopesAn optical bench in the Laser Optics Laboratory at Ames Research Center, crowded with mirrors, lenses and beam paths. Real NASA photograph used on the Ellis Abel Learns "Why I Love Lasers" page — read by families in Pittsburgh, PA.Why I love lasersThe last of four gold solar array wings is lowered into place on the Orion spacecraft's European Service Module. Real NASA photograph used on the Ellis Abel Learns "Why I Love Solar Power" page — read by families in Pittsburgh, PA.Why I love the sunTwo large gantry 3D printers extrude curved concrete walls of subscale habitat structures side by side at NASA's 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge. Real NASA photograph used on the Ellis Abel Learns "Why I Love 3D Printing" page — read by families in Pittsburgh, PA.Why I love 3D printersPale rock outcroppings breaking through prairie grass in Big Cypress National Preserve. Real USGS photograph used on the Ellis Abel Learns "Why I Love Geology" page — read by families in Pittsburgh, PA.Why I love the earthCylindrical rock cores laid out in trays at the USGS Core Research Center, showing bands of different rock layers. Real USGS photograph used on the Ellis Abel Learns "Why I Love Rocks" page — read by families in Pittsburgh, PA.Why I love rocks

Near Pittsburgh

Why I love telescopes, everywhere in the US · All things to love · STEM jobs you could do · Summer camps in Pittsburgh