The Hubble Space Telescope, one of the Great Observatories

A space telescope or space observatory is an instrument located in outer space to observe distant planets, galaxies and other astronomical objects. Space telescopes avoid many of the problems of ground-based observatories, such as light pollution and distortion of electromagnetic radiation (scintillation). In addition, ultraviolet frequencies, X-rays and gamma rays are blocked by the Earth's atmosphere, so they can only be observed from space.^[1]

Theorized by Lyman Spitzer in 1946, the first operational space telescopes were the American Orbiting Astronomical Observatory OAO-2 launched in 1968 and the Soviet Orion 1 ultraviolet telescope aboard space station Salyut 1 in 1971.

Space telescopes are distinct from other imaging satellites pointed toward Earth for purposes of espionage, weather analysis and other types of information gathering.

History[edit]

Spitzer, Hubble and XMM with their most important parts depicted

Wilhelm Beer and Johann Heinrich Mädler in 1837 discussed the advantages of an observatory on the Moon.^[2] In 1946, American theoretical astrophysicist Lyman Spitzer proposed a telescope in space, 11 years before the Soviet Union launched the first satellite, Sputnik 1.^[3] Spitzer's proposal called for a large telescope that would not be hindered by Earth's atmosphere. After lobbying in the 1960s and 70s for such a system to be built, Spitzer's vision ultimately materialized into the Hubble Space Telescope, which was launched on April 24, 1990 by the Space Shuttle Discovery (STS-31).^[4][5]

Advantages[edit]

Performing astronomy from ground-based observatories on Earth is limited by the filtering and distortion of electromagnetic radiation (scintillation or twinkling) due to the atmosphere.^[2] Some terrestrial telescopes can reduce atmospheric effects with adaptive optics. A telescope orbiting Earth outside the atmosphere is subject neither to twinkling nor to light pollution from artificial light sources on Earth. As a result, the angular resolution of space telescopes is often much smaller than a ground-based telescope with a similar aperture.

Space and ground observatories' wavelength working ranges compared against atmospheric transparency windows

Space-based astronomy is even more important for frequency ranges which are outside the optical window and the radio window, the only two wavelength ranges of the electromagnetic spectrum that are not severely attenuated by the atmosphere. For example, X-ray astronomy is nearly impossible when done from Earth, and has reached its current importance in astronomy only due to orbiting X-ray telescopes such as the Chandra observatory and the XMM-Newton observatory. Infrared and ultraviolet are also largely blocked.

However, all these advantages do come with a price. Space telescopes are much more expensive to build than ground-based telescopes. Due to their location, space telescopes are also extremely difficult to maintain. The Hubble Space Telescope was serviced by the Space Shuttle while many other space telescopes cannot be serviced at all.

Space observatories can generally be divided into two classes: missions which map the entire sky (surveys), and observatories which focus on selected astronomical objects or parts of the sky.

Future of space observatories[edit]

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Satellites have been launched and operated by NASA, ISRO, ESA, Japanese Space Agency and the Soviet space program later succeeded by Roskosmos of Russia. As of 2018, many space observatories have already completed their missions, while others continue operating on extended time. However, the availability of space telescopes and observatories in the future is threatened due to delays and budget cuts. While future space observatories are planned by NASA, JAXA and the China National Space Administration, scientists fear that there would be gaps in coverage that would not be covered immediately by future projects and this would affect research in fundamental science.^[6]

List of space telescopes[edit]

Some space observatories and their wavelength working ranges, as of 2005

See also[edit]

• Airborne observatory


• Earth observation satellite


• List of telescope types


• Observatory


• Timeline of artificial satellites and space probes


• Timeline of telescopes, observatories, and observing technology


• Ultraviolet astronomy


• X-ray astronomy satellite

Further reading[edit]

• Neil English: Space Telescopes - Capturing the Rays of the Electromagnetic Spectrum. Springer, Cham 2017, .mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit}.mw-parser-output q{quotes:"""""""'""'"}.mw-parser-output code.cs1-code{color:inherit;background:inherit;border:inherit;padding:inherit}.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-free a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/65/Lock-green.svg/9px-Lock-green.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-registration a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-gray-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-subscription a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-red-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration{color:#555}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription span,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration span{border-bottom:1px dotted;cursor:help}.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-error{display:none;font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-error{font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration,.mw-parser-output .cs1-format{font-size:95%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-left{padding-left:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-right{padding-right:0.2em}
  ISBN 978-3-319-27812-4.

References[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Space telescopes.