Telescope earliest existing record of a telescope was a 1608 patent submitted to the government in the Netherlands by Middelburg spectacle maker Hans Lippershey for a refracting telescope. The actual inventor is unknown but word of it spread through Europe. [[Galileo Galilei|Galileo]] heard about it and, in 1609, built his own version, and made his telescopic observations of celestial objects. The idea that the [[Objective (optics)|objective]], or light-gathering element, could be a mirror instead of a lens was being investigated soon after the invention of the refracting telescope. The potential advantages of using [[parabolic reflector|parabolic mirrors]]—reduction of [[spherical aberration]] and no
Jacob Metius else from claiming them. In October 1608, the States General discussed Jacob Metius's patent application for a device for "seeing faraway things as though nearby," consisting of a convex and concave lens in a tube, and the combination magnified three or four times. His use of a convex objective lens and concave eyepiece may have been a superior design to Hans Lippershey telescope design which was submitted for patent only a few weeks before Metius'. Metius informed the States General that he was familiar with the secrets of glassmaking, and that he could make an even better telescope with the