SPACE TELESCOPESA student project

What is a space telescope?

A space telescope is a telescope that orbits around Earth in space.

Like other telescopes they take pictures of far away celestial objects. They don’t take visual

images, they take images of the different kinds of light radiation objects emit.

What is a space telescope? cont.

Very sophisticated machines, require precise mathematics. In 1990, there was

1/50th of a hair defect on one of the lenses of Hubble, took two years to repair.

Powered by photo voltaic cells which transform light energy into electrical energy.

Why telescopes are sent to space

Telescopes are sent to space to get above the Earth’s atmosphere.

Gather information from the light that does not reach the Earth’s surface. Gamma Rays, X-Rays

and Ultraviolet Light blocked by the upper atmosphere are best observed from space.

Frequencies of light

Astronomical space observation is grouped by major frequency ranges: Gamma Rays X-Rays Ultraviolet Visible Infrared Microwaves Radio waves

Hubble Space Telescope (HST)

It is the size of a school bus. Space telescopes were proposed as early as 1923. Hubble began being funded as early as the 1970s. Scheduled to launch in 1983, however the project

was held back due to budget problems and the Challenger disaster.

Finally launched in 1990—however mirrors were fabricated incorrectly.

In 1993, The first ever manned space repair mission was sent to Hubble with five astronauts aboard one of NASA’s space shuttles, the Columbia.

Hubble Space Telescope cont. Fixed in 1993 and re-launched Four servicing missions were

performed from 1993-2002 Fifth canceled on safety grounds

following the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster.

2009—Final servicing mission completed

James Webb Space Telescope (JWST)

JWST is a large, infrared-optimized space telescope.

Scheduled to launch in 2014, will be replacement for Hubble.

JWST will have a large mirror-6.5 meters in diameter and a sunshield the size of a tennis court. Will orbit 1.5 million km from

the Earth. Will have an orbit around the

Earth, Moon, and the Sun.

JWST

JWST will find the first galaxies that formed the early Universe Connect the Big Band to our own Milky

Way galaxy The future telescope will peer

through dusty clouds to see stars forming planetary systems Connect the Milky way to our Solar

System.

National Geographic Documentary http://video.nationalgeographic.com/

video/player/science/space-sci/exploration/hubble-sci.html