On loan to The Met The Met accepts temporary loans of art both for short-term exhibitions and for long-term display in its galleries.
4" Refracting Telescope
Watkins of Charing Cross 5 British
Not on view
This elegant telescope, designed by master optician Jeremiah Watkins, employs a more sophisticated version of the same light-refracting technology that enabled Galileo’s discoveries. When trained on an object, the refracting telescope’s large lens gathers more light than is perceptible by the human eye, bending it back into the tube. A smaller eyepiece magnifies and clarifies the resulting image. Developing in tandem with camera technology, telescopic innovations propelled a centuries-long quest for sharper views of the moon’s surface.
