Exploring the Universe with Space Telescopes
What Are Space Telescopes?
Types of Space Telescopes
- The Hubble Space Telescope: The most famous of all space telescopes, the Hubble has been in operation since 1990 and has made countless groundbreaking discoveries about the cosmos.
- The Chandra X-ray Observatory: This telescope observes X-rays from the Universe, which can reveal high-energy phenomena like black holes and neutron stars.
- The Spitzer Space Telescope: This telescope observes infrared light, which can reveal cool objects like distant planets and dusty clouds of gas and dust.
Discoveries Made by Space Telescopes
- Images of black holes, including the first-ever direct image of a black hole by the Event Horizon Telescope in 2019.
- The discovery of exoplanets, or planets that orbit stars beyond our Solar System. Some of these planets may even be capable of supporting life.
- The discovery of dark energy, a mysterious force that is causing the expansion of the Universe to accelerate.
The Future of Space Telescopes
- The James Webb Space Telescope: Set to launch in 2021, the Webb telescope will observe the Universe in infrared light and will be able to see even further back in time than Hubble.
- The Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST): Also set to launch in the 2020s, WFIRST will be able to observe the Universe in unprecedented detail and will search for exoplanets and study dark energy.
