What is the main advantage of placing a telescope in space rather than on Earth's surface?

Space telescopes are easier to point at specific targets No atmospheric blurring or absorption — space telescopes see sharper images and can detect wavelengths the atmosphere blocks Space telescopes are always larger than ground-based ones Space telescopes never need maintenance

In what year was the Hubble Space Telescope launched?

1975 1990 2000 2010

What was revealed by the Hubble Deep Field images?

That the Milky Way is the only galaxy in the universe A tiny patch of seemingly dark sky contains thousands of galaxies — showing the universe is filled with countless galaxies in every direction That empty space between galaxies contains dark matter clouds That there are very few stars in the universe

How many times have astronauts traveled to space to service and upgrade the Hubble Space Telescope?

Once — to fix the mirror defect after launch Never — it was designed to work perfectly without repairs 5 times — astronauts used the Space Shuttle to repair, upgrade, and extend Hubble's capabilities 15 times — Hubble needed constant maintenance

What does the Chandra X-ray Observatory study?

The visible light from stars and nebulae like Hubble does Radio signals from pulsars and galaxies Extremely hot gas and plasma around black holes, neutron stars, supernova remnants, and galaxy clusters Cold gas and dust in planet-forming disks

What was the Spitzer Space Telescope designed to study, and when did it operate?

Spitzer was a gamma-ray telescope that studied supernovae (1999-2010) Spitzer was an X-ray telescope that studied black holes (2005-2020) Spitzer was a visible-light telescope that competed with Hubble (2003-2015) Spitzer was an infrared telescope (2003-2020) that studied cool objects like brown dwarfs, young stars, dusty galaxies, and exoplanet atmospheres

What does the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope detect?

Visible light from distant galaxies Infrared radiation from cool stars and nebulae Radio emissions from pulsars and quasars Gamma rays from gamma-ray bursts, pulsars, active galaxies, and areas where dark matter might be annihilating

Why is using multiple space observatories together (multi-wavelength astronomy) so powerful?

Multiple observatories can be networked to act as one giant telescope Each observatory sees a different part of the electromagnetic spectrum, so together they build a complete picture of the same objects and events Multiple telescopes reduce costs by sharing missions Space observatories can only communicate with each other, not with Earth

The Hubble Space Telescope has a mirror 2.4 meters in diameter. How does this compare to the James Webb Space Telescope?

They are the same size — Webb is an upgrade of Hubble Hubble's mirror is larger — Webb is more sensitive in other ways Webb's mirror is 6.5 meters — nearly three times wider than Hubble's, collecting about 7 times more light Webb's mirror is 100 meters — far too large to launch as a single piece

Which space telescope was repaired in 1993 to fix a flaw in its mirror that had been causing blurry images?

The Chandra X-ray Observatory The Spitzer Space Telescope The James Webb Space Telescope The Hubble Space Telescope

What is a gamma-ray burst and why is it significant?

A burst of gamma rays from the Sun during a solar flare The glow from a black hole event horizon as seen from Earth A burst of gamma rays caused by lightning strikes in Earth's atmosphere The most powerful explosion in the universe, releasing more energy in seconds than the Sun will emit in its entire lifetime — detected by telescopes like Fermi