​Looking at yourself in the mirror creates an image of yourself. An image is a visual representation of the light source bouncing off of a shiny surface.

​Light reflecting off of a mirror is similar to sound echoing off of a hard wall. The image you see in a mirror is clear because most of the light wave reflects the same way off the mirror's smooth surface.

​A reflection is just the organized scattering of a wave of light forming an image that we see.

​Light hitting a smooth, reflective surface like a mirror obeys what is called the "Law of Reflection"

​The "Law of Reflection" states that the angle of an incoming light ray equals the angle of the reflected light ray!

​Curved mirrors can form many kinds of images. They can be upright or upside down, they can be enlarged or made smaller.

​When light passes through a medium it is slowed down/changes speed and it appears to make objects bend.

​When light changes mediums, it also changes its speed. When waves change speed it is known as refraction. Refraction is the bending of waves of light as they pass from one substance into another.

​Lenses use refraction to shape images that we see. Lenses used in eyeglasses help make objects appear in focus.

​Telescopes, microscopes and cameras also use lenses to make images appear closer and clearer. The focusing of images is important for us to see objects clearly. The image above was taken by the Hubble Space Telescope, and is about 200,000 light years from Earth!​