Space telescope
A space telescope is a telescope that is located outside of the earth's disturbing atmosphere in space . The advantages of space for telescopes are the lack of air turbulence and access to areas of electromagnetic radiation such as gamma rays , X-rays and infrared rays that are swallowed up by the atmosphere . In addition, space enables very long baselines, for example in radio interferometry (see e.g. HALCA ) or for searching for gravitational waves (see LISA ).
Most of the time, space telescopes are in orbit around the earth, but future telescopes will increasingly be positioned at the Lagrangian points of the earth's orbit. SOHO is already at the inner Lagrangian point L1, from which the sun can be observed continuously. The probe for researching the cosmic background radiation WMAP circled around the outer Lagrangian point L2, at which the simultaneous shielding of interfering radiation from earth and sun is easier. Another possibility is orbits around the sun like the Spitzer Space Telescope .
List of space telescopes (excerpt)
| Surname | begin | The End | Area | operator | aims |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Radio Astronomy Explorer A / B | 1968/1973 | 1977 | |||
| Uhuru (SAS-1) | 1970 | 1973 | roentgen | NASA | |
| Orbiting Astronomical Observatory 3 (Copernicus) | 1972 | 1981 | UV , X-ray | NASA | |
| COS-B | 1975 | 1982 | gamma | ESA | |
| International Ultraviolet Explorer | 1978 | 1996 | UV | NASA , ESA , SERC | |
| Infrared Astronomical Satellite | 1983 | 1983 | IR | ||
| Astron | 1983 | 1989 | UV, X-ray | USSR / France | |
| EXOSAT | 1983 | 1986 | roentgen | ESA | |
| ASTRO-C (Ginga) | 1987 | 1991 | roentgen | ISAS | |
| COBE | 1989 | 1993 | Microwaves | NASA | Measurement of the background radiation |
| Hipparcos | 1989 | 1993 | Visible light | ESA | Survey to create a star catalog |
| ROSAT | 1990 | 1999 | roentgen | DLR | |
| Hubble Space Telescope | 1990 | Visible light, UV, IR | NASA , ESA | ||
| Compton Gamma Ray Observatory | 1991 | 2000 | gamma | NASA | |
| Yohkoh | 1991 | 2001 | roentgen | ISAS | |
| Extreme Ultraviolet Explorer | 1992 | 2001 | EUV | NASA | |
| ASTRO-D (Asca) | 1993 | 2000 | roentgen | ISAS | |
| Infrared Space Observatory | 1995 | 1998 | IR | ESA | |
| Solar and Heliospheric Observatory | 1995 | Visible light, UV | NASA , ESA | ||
| RXTE | 1995 | 2012 | roentgen | NASA | |
| BeppoSAX | 1996 | 2002 | roentgen | ASI | |
| Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer | 1999 | 2007 | UV | NASA | |
| Chandra | 1999 | roentgen | NASA | ||
| XMM Newtons | 1999 | roentgen | ESA | ||
| WMAP | 2001 | 2010 | Microwaves | NASA | Measurement of the background radiation |
| integral | 2002 | gamma | ESA | ||
| Galaxy Evolution Explorer | 2003 | 2013 | UV | NASA | |
| Sharpener | 2003 | 2020 | IR | NASA | |
| MOST | 2003 | CSA | |||
| Swift | 2004 | gamma | NASA | ||
| ASTRO-E (Suzaku) | 2005 | roentgen | JAXA | ||
| ASTRO-F (Akari) | 2006 | 2011 | IR | JAXA | |
| STEREO | 2006 | UV | NASA | ||
| COROT (space telescope) | 2006 | 2013 | Visible light | CNES / ESA | search for exoplanets using the transit method |
| AGILE | 2007 | gamma | ASI | ||
| Fermi | 2008 | gamma | NASA | ||
| Kepler | 2009 | 2013 | Visible light, IR | NASA | search for exoplanets using the transit method |
| Planck | 2009 | 2013 | Microwaves | ESA | Measurement of the background radiation |
| Herschel | 2009 | 2012 for HFI | IR | ESA | |
| WISE | 2009 | 2011 | IR | NASA | Find dark objects like asteroids and brown dwarfs near the solar system |
| RadioAstron (Spectral R) | 2011 | Microwaves | Astronomical Center of the Lebedev Institute of Physics , Moscow | ||
| NuSTAR | 2012 | roentgen | NASA | ||
| NEOSSat | 2013 | Visible light | CSA | ||
| Gaia | 2013 | Visible light | ESA | Survey to create a star catalog | |
| ASTRO-H (Hitomi) | 2016 | roentgen | JAXA , NASA , ESA , CSA | ||
| Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope ( HXMT ) | 2017 | roentgen | CNSA | ||
| Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) | 2018 | NASA | Search for exoplanets using the transit method | ||
| Spectral RG | 2019 | roentgen | ESA , Roscosmos | ||
| Cheops | 2019 | ESA | With the help of the transit method, size, mass and possible atmospheres of already known exoplanets (to determine bright, but less active stars) or to determine more precisely | ||
| James Webb Space Telescope | 2021 (planned) | IR | NASA , ESA , CSA | ||
| Euclid | 2022 (planned) | Visible light, near IR | ESA |
Private projects
Around 2012, several private space companies and operators announced the launch and use of space telescopes. Planetary Resources planned to build and deploy several Arkyd-100 Leo Space Telescope telescopes to detect asteroids and other objects that may be suitable for future asteroid mining . The B612 Foundation planned the launch of an IR space telescope Sentinel for 2017, which should be used for mapping and early detection of near-earth objects . The German project Public Telescope announced the start of a space telescope for the ultraviolet and visible spectral range from 2019, which is to be used not only for science but also by amateur astronomy and education. The International Lunar Observatory Association announced an observatory in the south polar region of the moon for 2015 . As of April 2020, only the latter of these projects is still active, but without a specific start date.
See also
literature
- Reinhard E. Schielicke: Astronomy with large telescopes from ground and space. Wiley-VCH, Weinheim 2002, ISBN 3-527-40404-X
- David Leverington: New cosmic horizons - space astronomy from the V2 to the Hubble Space Telescope. Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge 2000, ISBN 0-521-65137-9
- Zdeněk Kopal: Telescopes in space. Faber & Faber, London 1968
- Jingquan Cheng: Space Telescope Projects and their Development , pp. 309ff. in: The principles of astronomical telescope design. Springer, New York 2009, ISBN 978-0-387-88790-6 .
- Neil English: Space Telescopes - Capturing the Rays of the Electromagnetic Spectrum. Springer, Cham 2017, ISBN 978-3-319-27812-4 .
Web links
- Paul Gilster: The Shape of Space Telescopes to Come . Centauri Dreams, September 3, 2015
Individual evidence
- ↑ RadioAstron , Lebedev Institute for Physics , accessed on August 30, 2011.
- ↑ Sentinel: private space telescope for asteroid search, pro-physik.de
- ↑ Asteroid Mining Startup Planetary Resources Teams With Virgin Galactic , forbes.com
- ↑ Leo Space Telescope ( May 1, 2012 memento on the Internet Archive ), planetaryresources.com, accessed July 12, 2012.
- ↑ B612 Sentinel Mission ( Memento from January 16, 2013 in the Internet Archive ), b612foundation.org
- ^ Space telescope for everyone , welt.de
- ↑ Kwame Opam: Moon Express unveils lunar lander design with planned 2015 launch date. In: The Verge. December 8, 2013, accessed May 1, 2019 .