3.0: Telescope Introduction
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Investigating light is no easy task, as telescopes on the ground all suffer from the same predicament: Earth’s atmosphere degrades the images they produce. It makes objects appear blurrier and dimmer than they actually are. Furthermore, most kinds of light are not detectable from the surface of Earth at all; they are absorbed by our atmosphere before ever reaching the ground. This is why we put many types of specialized detectors on satellites that are then launched into space.
- Video Transcript
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This video contains no audio. Used with permission from Stephane Guisard (sguisard.astrosurf.com) and Jose Francisco Salgado (josefrancisco.org).
By the end of this chapter, you will compare and contrast images of a celestial object obtained in three different wavebands of light by three different telescopes. There is really much more out there than meets the eye!