Questions tagged [space-telescope]
Questions regarding telescopes in orbit around Earth, such as the Hubble Space Telescope.
18
questions
5
votes
1answer
160 views
Which space telescope is the most distant?
From the earth, and from the sun. Only interested in active, operational ones.
19
votes
2answers
787 views
Parking a telescope at a Lagrange point: is this a good idea from a debris point of view?
The James Webb space telescope is supposed to be located at the Earth-Sun L2 Lagrange point.
Do we expect the region around that point to have a higher concentration of space debris, asteroids, dust,...
3
votes
1answer
146 views
How are space telescopes stabilised to a perfect standstill?
I assume that for space telescopes to get good images, they must be put in perfect standstill, as even the slightest deviation in the viewing angle is amplified by the distance of observed objects, ...
7
votes
2answers
177 views
Can the Gaia telescope detect small temporarily captured asteroids near its Lagrange orbit?
The Gaia space telescope is in a Lissajous orbit around the Sun-Earth Lagrange point 2. The orbit period is about 180 days and the size of the orbit is 263,000 x 707,000 x 370,000 km. It has been ...
9
votes
1answer
284 views
What are the next planned space telescopes?
We've had hubble for two decades. Its become the most famous space telescope, and lately Kepler seems to be running for the second place. Are there any more powerful, better telescopes planned for ...
8
votes
1answer
122 views
What is the gravitational lensing focal distance of a white dwarf star?
I tried looking this up, but I couldn't find any formula on gravitational lensing distance. I know that our Sun's is about 550 AU, though further distances work too, as it's not a single focus due ...
8
votes
1answer
319 views
Is there a cosmic, rather than technological, upper limit to what a telescope can resolve?
Space radio interferometers could have a baseline of millions of kilometers, but is there a point where a larger baseline doesn't improve the resolution anymore because the photons observed are ...
7
votes
4answers
404 views
Where exactly is the modification that first corrected the spherical aberration in Hubble's primary mirror?
The April 2015 CBS News article How NASA fixed Hubble's flawed vision - and reputation describes the modification taken to the Hubble Space Telescopes by the Space Shuttle that was used to correct for ...
7
votes
1answer
340 views
How could a 20 inch space telescope “be able to make out Earth-size planets” orbiting alpha Centari?
The NY Times article Telescope to Seek Earthlike Planet in Alpha Centauri System describes a proposed effort to put a telescope into orbit fairly quickly with a narrowly defined purpose - to look for ...
6
votes
4answers
349 views
Why not use only one support vane for the secondary mirror, to avoid multiple diffraction spikes?
Each vane holding the secondary mirror in front of the primary causes a diffraction spike. Couldn't the secondary mirror be held with only one vane?
If stability is the issue, couldn't it be ...
4
votes
1answer
178 views
How would a small TCO (temporarily captured orbiter) or other natural Earth satellite most likely be detected?
A sentence from the abstract of The population of natural Earth satellites states:
At any given time there should be at least one NES of 1-meter diameter orbiting the Earth. The average temporarily-...
4
votes
2answers
82 views
What's still needed before we can observe orbits of exomoons thereby weighing exoplanets?
Comments below this answer to How do we weigh a planet? point out that we currently cannot (or at least have not) detect moons around exoplanets, much less measure the sizes and periods of their ...
3
votes
1answer
559 views
What are the differences between TESS and PLATO exoplanet telescopes?
Within a year now it has been decided to launch TESS in 2017 and PLATO in 2024, space telecopes of NASA and ESA. They seem to have very similar science goals, both searching for transiting Earth sized ...
3
votes
1answer
123 views
Why didn't we see those campfires on the Sun until now?
What is it about its optics and instrumentation (aperture, sensors, filters), being in space and distance from the Sun on 30 May 2020 that allowed Solar Orbiter's HRIEUV telescope to see something ...
2
votes
1answer
83 views
Can the WISE telescope detect black holes?
Black holes are hot, aren't they? With its infrared scan, could the WISE telescope also detect a black hole? The hypothetical planet beyond the Kuiper belt could actually be a primordial black hole. ...
2
votes
1answer
100 views
Why would a tidally-locked rocky planet have a first-order spherical harmonic surface temperature distribution?
The new Letter to Nature Absence of a thick atmosphere on the terrestrial exoplanet LHS 3844b (also ArXiv) analyzes the thermal infrared light curve from the system (about 4.5 to 5.5 um). The planet ...
2
votes
1answer
90 views
How will microshutter arrays be used in the James Webb and future space telescopes?
Question: How will microshutter arrays be used in the James Webb and future space telescopes? Are they acting as a sort of moving pinhole or slit, or is the pattern more complicated, like a coded ...
0
votes
1answer
73 views
Does this CHEOPS first light image imply bad astronomy?
@KeithMcClary's comment under lousy mirror corrected by software links to Bad Astronomy's First Light for the Exoplanet Hunter Mission CHEOPS Goes Tetrahedral which shows the image below.
I understand ...
