Advantages and disadvantages of space telescope

Space telescopes have the advantage of being above the blurring effects of the Earth's
atmosphere. In addition, there are many wavelengths from the electromagnetic spectrum that
do not reach Earth because they are absorbed or reflected by the Earth's atmosphere. In fact,
as you can see from the diagram below, it is only the wavelengths of visible light, a small
portion of infrared, and a part of the radio wavelengths that reach Earth at all. To observe
ultraviolet, x-rays, gamma rays or infrared, astronomers have had to put telescopes outside of
Earth's atmosphere -normally in orbit around the Earth.

Infrared Astronomy

Water vapor in the atmosphere absorbs much of the infrared radiation from space so the
infrared observatories on Earth are located on high, dry mountains such as Mauna Kea in
Hawaii. Even at high altitudes, however, the quality of observations in infrared is limited.
The best solution for infrared observing is to put a telescope in orbit above the Earth and use
radio to send data back to Earth. The Herschel Space Observatory was launched in May 2009
and the Spitzer Space Telescope was launched in August 2003. Herschel's primary mirror is
3.5 meters in diameter and the telescope is designed for infrared wavelengths from 55 to 672
µm. Spitzer's primary mirror is 0.85 meters across and it is designed for wavelengths of 3 to
180 µm. Infrared observatories in space must be kept very cold because otherwise infrared
radiation from the telescope itself would interfere with its ability to observe infrared radiation
from space. Spitzer exhausted its liquid helium coolant in 2009 and only a few of its
instruments are still being used. Herschel's mission came to an end in 2013, when it also ran
out of coolant.

Astronomers study the infrared wavelengths to study the early universe and to learn about
objects that are too cold to generate visible light including brown dwarf stars and dust clouds.

Visible Wavelengths

Visible wavelengths make it through Earth's atmosphere, but turbulence in the atmosphere
causes images of stars to be blurred and spread out by at least 0.5", even at the best observing
sites in the world. The Hubble Space Telescope observes from an orbit about 559 km above
the Earth at wavelengths from near infrared through the visible range and into the ultraviolet.
It has a 2.4 meter primary mirror. It was put into orbit in 1990 and had a major repair in 1993.
In May 2009 it was serviced again and should last until its successor, the James Webb Space
Telescope (JWST), is launched in 2021. The JWST will be optimized for infrared
observation, however, and ground based observatories will be the main source of
observations in the visible range when Hubble is no longer able to operate. The Kepler Space
Telescope was launched in March, 2009 and was active until November 2018. It had a 1.4
meter diameter primary mirror, and observed in the visible and infrared range of
wavelengths. It had a very large field of view and was used to search for Earth sized planets
within our galaxy. It detected 2,662 planets during its mission.
X-ray Astronomy

X-ray telescopes make it possible to study objects with temperatures between 106 and 108 K
(between about 1 million and 100 million °C). When atoms in a gas are this hot, they move
so fast that when they collide, they emit X-ray photons with wavelengths less than 10 nm.
The Earth's atmosphere blocks all X-rays from space, so space telescopes must be used to
observe in these wavelengths. X-rays have such high energy that the typical reflecting
telescope design used for radio, infrared and optical telescopes cannot be used as the X-rays
would just penetrate into the mirror. Instead, mirrors are arranged in specially shaped tubes so
that the X-rays coming into the telescope just skim off the surface of the mirror (similar to
skipping a stone on the surface of a lake) and onto a detector. Two X-ray telescopes currently
in space are the Chandra X-ray Observatory and the XMM-Newton.

Gamma-Ray Astronomy

Gamma-ray telescopes such as the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope do not use mirrors at
all and instead have special detectors to measure the energy and direction of the most
energetic electromagnetic radiation in the universe, gamma-rays. The Fermi Gamma-ray
Space Telescope detects gamma-rays with energies from 10 keV to 300 GeV and has a very
large field of view. It sees approximately 20% of the sky at once, and can cover the entire sky
every three hours. Studying gamma-rays helps astronomers learn more about many things
including active galactic nuclei, blazars, gamma-ray bursts, pulsars and solar flares.

For optical telescopes such as the ones being discussed, the only real advantage of putting a
telescope in space is that it can do its job much better there. This is not because such
telescopes are materially closer to their objects of inquiry, but rather because the Earth's
atmosphere can distort images so badly. This is why such telescopes are often built at very
high altitudes if possible, such as the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii.

Telescopes that capture infra-red rays, x-rays and gamma rays, which cannot be seen but
are very important in physics, have to be in space because the atmosphere occludes them
completely. 

Example of a Space-Based Telescope: The Hubble Telescope

The Hubble Telescope was a worldwide phenomenon even before it was launched into
space, so anticipated was its ability to capture dazzling imagery from miles above Earth,
where its optical apparatus would be unencumbered by the distorting effects of the Earth's
atmosphere.

When it comes to Hubble Space Telescope advantages and disadvantages, there are a number
of elements you will want to keep in mind. The main reason for examining these pros and
cons is to determine whether or not a space telescope is really needed in this day and age. As
you will discover, there are several elements to that issue that you will want to keep in mind.
Advantages Of Hubble Space Telescope

There are several distinct advantages to having the Hubble Space Telescope, which has been
in operation for many years:

The earth’s atmosphere

The first advantage? You don’t have to deal with the atmosphere of the earth. In terms of
being able to make detailed observations, you are going to find that the atmosphere causes a
lot of problems, particularly in terms of murkiness.

The detail is absolutely extraordinary

When you can eliminate the atmosphere, you have a degree of clarity that is still largely
unmatched. You will be able to capture detail in a truly impressive fashion.

It points to the potential of the space program

Although the Hubble Space Telescope is not without its disadvantages, the fact of the matter
is that it has been more successful than not. If someone fails to see the need for a space
program, someone else could point to the numerous successes of the Hubble Space
Telescope.

Disadvantages Of Hubble Space Telescope

As mentioned before, the Hubble Space Telescope is not without its problems. While the
telescope has produced some dazzling shots, it has also come with the following problems:

Operating in space
Not surprisingly, operating a telescope that is in outer space can be a hassle.

Time consuming
Regardless of the work that needs to be done with the Hubble Space Telescope, you can
count on a long wait. This ties into the point mentioned above.

Expensive
Since the Hubble Space Telescope is so expensive to maintain, it doesn’t have the luxury of
being as large as some would like it to be.

Repairs are difficult

Any kind of repair work is going to prove to be difficult. This is due to not only the lengthy
wait, owing to the distance, but it is also due to the challenges of working in space.
Gyroscope and motors that move the mirrors into place need updating. The Hubble Space
Telescope was maintained twice at great expense before the space shuttle missions were
discontinued and no further maintenance is planned.

Out of date
Since you can’t update the instruments as much as you would like, you are going to find the
software going out of date quite often. This can lead to a variety of performance problems.
Conclusion
 In conclusion, the Hubble space telescope was a major turning point in science because it has
greatly changed humans' understanding of astronomy by allowing many important
discoveries to be made and many new technologies to advance and develop. For almost 500
years, we only improved in the telescope made in the 1600's made by Galileo, and finally,
NASA and ESA ( European Space Agency) constructed the next big thing, the Hubble Space
Telescope, the turning point. It's almost like a cycle, improve until someone advances, and
then improve on that, and it keeps going. Hubble was the start, next is the James Webb
telescope, and the future beyond that. Also, the Hubble Space Telescope affects people today
in a myriad of ways. First of all, one's point of view has changed since the launching of the
Hubble back in 1990. As Christopher Go, an amateur astronomer and part-time lecturer,
looked at the data that Hubble has given him, he realized that he then had the upper-hand
when it comes to primary knowledge in astronomy. Christopher Go uses the HST very often
to monitor storms on the surface of Jupiter. Today's world has been forever affected by HST
because now, the human civilization can thrive in their quest in conquering the knowledge of
outer space, and beyond.