Space Telescope
A space telescope is a telescope that is launched into space and put into orbit. They launch telescopes because the earth’s atmosphere obstructs and messes up the light and waves from distant stars and planets. A space telescope can see further with less obstruction than a telescope that is placed on earth. Despite the obvious benefits and advantages to launching a telescope into orbit, there are only three currently in orbit, which is out of the original four. Four telescopes were launched as part of the Great Observatories plan, including the most famous Hubble Space Telescope.
The idea of a space telescope was first put forth by Lyman Spitzer in 1946, but it took decades before the technology and funding caught up with the idea. Spitzer was put in charge of the project at NASA in the mid-sixties, and was instrumental in getting the project off the ground, so to speak. But it was Charles Pellerin that actually thought of the Great Observatories plan in the mid-eighties, and he is the one that spearheaded the project that got all four telescopes into orbit. The one that is no longer in orbit is the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory, which was de-orbited in 2000, when one of the gyroscopes failed. It crashed to the earth, and the parts that did not burn up on re-entry went into the Pacific ocean. The other three that are still in orbit are the Hubble, the Chandra-X observatory, and the Spitzer Space Telescope. The Hubble will stay in orbit for a long time.
Related Information
South Pole Telescope
The South Pole telescope is that observes in frequency range between 70 and 300 GHz
Brass Telescopes
Brass telescopes can resemble works of art when placed in homes and gardens.
