PSU Astronomy Capstone Web Page by: Donald Kozlowski - Professional/Research Telescopes

Professional & Research

Telescopes

Thank you for coming to my website!

photographs by NASA.

Low-Altitude Earth-Based Telescopes

The earth's atmosphere is bombarded by electromagnetic radiation from astronomical objects emanating in numerous locations in space. Space radiation also spans all wavelengths. Back in 1609, an Italian physicist and astronomer named Galileo Galilei (1564–1642) became the first person to observe this space radiation by viewing a fuzzy space object later found to be our own galaxy, "The Milky Way." However, due to the absorptive properties of our atmosphere, only two spectral regions of radiation most freely penetrate all the way to the earth's surface. One is the 'visual' region. The other is the 'radio' region. Galileo used the visible region when he discovered telescopic astronomy. This is the spectral region that our eyes can detect as the colors of light. The other spectral region that reaches ground earth, the radio spectra, is invisible to the human eye. These two spectral regions use two types of ground-based telescopes, the Optical/Visual Earth-Based telescope, and the Radio Earth-Based telescopes.

chart by NASA.

High-Altitude Earth-Based & Space-Based Telescopes

Since our atmosphere limits the feasibility and hinders the quality of astronomical observation, scientists and engineers since the 1960's have designed new telescopes to take advantage of the 'clear view' that high-altitude locations and space astronomy can offer. These telescopes are being used to 'see' the Infrared High Altitude, UltraViolet High Altitude, Hubble Space, X-Ray Space-Based, and Gamma-Ray Space-Based sources that otherwise would go undetectable to low-altitude ground-based telescopes. These telescopes are placed upon mountaintops, satellites that orbit around the earth, and in space exploratory vehicles, such as the Voyager spacecraft, which traveled outside earth's boundaries and into our solar system. Since Galileo's telescopic invention nearly 400 years ago, our space-based telescopes today have opened the new frontier in astronomy. By placing telescopes in space, our understanding of physics, the universe, and our own planet and life systems has been greatly enhanced.

chart by NASA.