Questions tagged [space-telescope]
A telescope placed in space, typically for the purpose of avoiding atmospheric distortion, background light, and attenuation of light by the atmosphere.
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If the largest spy satellites could take pictures, how detailed would they be?
This question is inspired by the NRO's Orion Satellites. These are surveillance satellites placed near geostationary altitude that measure radio emissions.
Importantly, they have been described as the ...
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Would electrically powered thrusters on JWST have made it last for decades longer?
Since the lifespan of the James Webb Space Telescope is determined by the amount of fuel it can carry for its thrusters, used to decelerate the reaction wheels used to orient the telescope, and since ...
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What is the advantage of optical astronomy over infrared astronomy in space telescopes?
The Habitable Worlds Observatory, the proposed successor to the James Webb has an identically sized 6.5 meter mirror but operates primarily in visible light. Infrared telescopes like Webb have the ...
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How redshifted galaxies will JWST be able to detect? [closed]
I see that the MIRI camera/spectrograph on JWST has an operational wavelength span between 5 and 28 micrometers. Now visible not redshifted light has wavelengths between 400 and 700 nanometers. If ...
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Most accurate method to find exoplanets?
NASA has found thousands of exoplanets in space using their powerful telescopes. How exactly does NASA do so and what is the best method? I'm assuming that NASA uses some sort of sensor to detect ...
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What was the first space telescope to produce a 2D image with recognisable features?
I recently learned about the Orbiting Astronomical Observatories (OAO) program, a series of four space telescopes, the first launched already in 1966. Only two made it to orbit and entered operational ...
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Interesting diffraction pattern on JWST composite false-color image released today (July 11) at Biden preview - how does this arise?
There was an earlier question on the diffraction pattern in the Mar 16 test image that was mainly explained by the hexagonal shape of the individual mirror segments. Today's image has similar ...
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What caused the JWST Instrument Radiator temperature to start cooling faster on day 34?
As shown on the temperature plots, the D-Instrument Radiator temperature was slowly dropping after sunshield deployment. Around day 34, however, the temperature started to decrease faster than before....
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Why aren't off-axis reflector telescopes more popular for space telescopes? Have there ever been any?
It seems that:
The light gathering capabilities would be slightly better without the blocked aperture (clear aperture is a premium for fairing-limited space telescopes)
The diffraction patterns from ...
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When will the jwst python library have live data for the general public to work with in its data pipelines?
The Space Science Telescope Institute has put out a python library called JWST for science observations from James Webb Space Telescope.
When will the general public be able to look at "live"...
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What can/do astronauts look at with the portable telescopes aboard the ISS?
I would like to know what will be the visibility from the portable telescope aboard the International Space Station.
What could they potentially view, and what are (at least some of) the things they ...
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How does the James Webb Space Telescope take images with individual mirror segments?
It says here (and elsewhere) that during mirror alignment the James Webb Space Telescope will take $18$ “individual images” of a star, “one from each mirror segment”. I’m wondering how this is ...
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Curvature of the JWST mirrors
The JWST has four mirrors.
The large primary mirror made of 18 hexagonal mirrors
The secondary mirror
The fixed tertiary mirror
The flat fine steering mirror
I found very little information about ...
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Could JWST operate with failed or partial wing mirror deployment?
I have not found any information about contingencies for failed wing mirror deployment. Could JWST operate, and at least partially fulfill its scientific mission, with only the center core mirror, ...
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What will happen to JWST after its 10 year mission?
JWST launched recently.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Webb_Space_Telescope#Orbit
JWST needs to use propellant to maintain its halo orbit around L2, which provides an upper limit to its designed ...
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How will JWST see beginning of universe? [closed]
The light that is supposed to come from far away distance galaxy, that will reach James Webb Telescope, won't it have already passed earth? BBC puts out this explanation in this article.
Won't the ...
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For JWST's "29.5 days of terror" before orbital insertion, unfolding the sunshield is the scariest for me. When is this scheduled to happen?
At what date and time UTC is JWST's unfolding of its sunshield scheduled to begin?
At what date and time UTC is confirmation of success expected if all goes smoothly?
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Are they already planning a successor to the JWST?
Hubble has been flying for 30+ years. JWST took 10 years to fund and build.
But given its 10 year (if we're lucky) life expectancy, I assume its successor is already on a drawing board somewhere.
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How would a repair of the JWST proceed if it were ordered regardless of the cost and technical hurdles, depending on when/how it fails? [closed]
I have heard people speaking about how, unlike Hubble, the James Webb Space Telescope is "one of a kind", "not designed to be repaired", "not serviceable", and the like, ...
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Where is this "clusters of pearls" design for a solar gravitational lensing telescope discussed in detail? Who's developing this?
In What might the first deep space telescope using the Sun or Jupiter as a gravitational lens be like? I speculated that the detector for a gravitational lens telescope would be a big array of ...
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How can the proposed LUVOIR space telescope slew to different directions while keeping the sunshade in a fixed orientation? What compensates?
In this answer to Why does JWST have such a big Blind Spot? I mention that it moves as a rigid body; in order to change the direction the telescope is pointing the whole spacecraft slews, including ...
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How are JWST tanks baffled to dampen slosh?
After JWST slews to a new orientation, it then needs to “settle” sloshing fuel in the tanks before Fine Guidance System (FGS) can acquire the new science target. The time needed for slewing, settling ...
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How would NASA confirm the James Webb Space Telescope is undamaged after the clamp release incident?
Would NASA point a space telescope at something far enough away in a clean room to confirm that the telescope is functioning correctly before launching it into space? Is there some optical technique ...
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Is it possible to create a geostationary surveillance telescope?
Is it possible to create a telescope in geostationary orbit, with real-time video from any country or area?
Some applications could be:
Monitoring of burning and deforestation;
Residential/industrial ...
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What will Taiwan's NSPO put in orbit around the Moon in 2025? How will it get there? What will it do?
The Taipei Times article NSPO head eyeing 80% autonomy of satellite industry says:
Following the six-satellite Formosat-7/COSMIC-2 constellation’s launch in 2019, weather observation satellite Triton ...
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International space station(ISS) viewed from planet earth [closed]
Is it possible to view International space station (ISS) using sophisticated Telescopes from planet earth?
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Where can I read about the other 17 telescope proposals that NASA’s Astrophysics Explorers Program didn't accept in 2019?
Update: Per @DH's comment:
Possibly nowhere, except for brief and oftentimes inscrutable summaries. The summaries have to be publicly releasable. Proposers often do their best to make the publicly ...
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Can Interferometery be Used to Shorten the Solar Gravitational Lens Focal
The solar gravitational lens's focal is around 550 AU which is very far. Can we send a few telescopes that will stop midway (let's assume 150 AU) to collect the light and work as interferometry?
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Space telescope protective gear?
Is there any history of damage to space telescopes from meteoroids etc?
If there is, would the James Webb be going up with any kit for detecting small bodies in near proximity (inside the L2 point) ...
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Telescope in a crater? How different are the bowl shapes?
When building large stationary single-dish radio telescopes, one of the constraints to location is that the landscape should already have approximately the right shape, cutting down on construction ...
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What is NEOCam's (now NEO Surveyor) strategy for scanning the sky? Need to consider in which coordinate system?
In Survey Simulations of a New Near-Earth Asteroid Detection System it can be seen that Infrared astronomer Amy Mainzer gave the scanning strategy of the horizon in a paper, but I am very confused ...
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Is the Hubble Space Telescope on its last legs, or "back to normal"?
Hubble was designed to accommodate regular servicing and equipment upgrades while in orbit. Instruments and limited life items were designed as orbital replacement units. Five servicing missions (SM 1,...
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What will (likely) be the first separately-orbiting coronagraph to be deployed in space?
Traditionally a coronagraph is something that blocks the bright disk of our Sun to make it easier to image the much dimmer corona. The first coronagraph is of course the Moon; during a solar eclipse ...
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Why was the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer decommissioned in 2012? Why wasn't it deployed another ~100 km higher where drag would have been a lot less?
The Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (1995-074A) was an incredibly prolific space telescope between 1996 and when it was decommissioned/deactivated on January 5, 2012.
It reentered the atmosphere soon ...
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How will NEO Surveyor manage 82 gigabits/day of data? How will it process it, what fraction will be sent to Earth and how it compares to TESS & GAIA?
Wikipedia says says:
NEO Surveyorformerly called Near-Earth Object Camera (NEOCam), then NEO Surveillance Mission, is a planned space-based infrared telescope designed to survey the Solar System for ...
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What causes GAIA rotational axis to precess the way it does? How exactly is this accomplished?
The GAIA spacecraft rotates at 1 degree per minute about its axis, scanning two telescopes looking 106.5 degrees apart but imaging on the same focal plane around a circle every 6 hours.
The rotation ...
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How do spacecraft reach Lagrange points?
As I understand, to reach a Lagrange point the spacecraft would need to slow down. Also, can spacecraft passing nearby Lagrange points get captured within the point?
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Future plans and advances for improved extrasolar planet imaging; has anything changed since 2019?
I have seen What is the state of the art of exosolar planet imaging in 2019? but answers there simply address the types and quality of images.
Here I'd like to ask about plans for future technology to ...
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Most realistic 2021 rendering of the milky way galaxy [closed]
Images of our own galaxy are either the "edge-on" inside view or artist renditions. However, we have mapped out 2% of the stars. Most stars are red dwarfs, so the more luminous stars will be ...
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Are spacecraft star cameras ever used as scientific instruments for research?
There are quite a lot of spacecraft that have been up there a while and a lot of them have star cameras for attitude determination and for attitude control. Space telescopes (both heavenly and Earth-...
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Which spacecraft far from Earth have arc second resolution cameras that could measure Betelgeuse's position?
All hands on deck! We have to measure the distance to Betelgeuse ASAP because Recent headlines saying that Betelgeuse is much closer than we thought, and they point to Standing on the Shoulders of ...
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What's the status and timeline for Millimetron? (Russia's 10m Deployable Antenna cooled to 6 K Earth-Space VLBI)
Comments below an answer to How does NASA's ASTHROS stratospheric telescope compare to its James Webb space telescope? link to JPL's Paul F. Goldsmith's The Renaissance of High Resolution ...
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What "improvements in technology" allowed the primary mirror of RST (WFIRST) to be less than 1/4 the weight of Hubble's?
The recent NASA press release Primary Mirror for NASA’s Roman Space Telescope Completed states:
While it’s the same size as the Hubble Space Telescope’s main mirror, it is less than one-fourth the ...
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What exactly gives a larger field of view to the donated "spy" telescopes that NASA may send to Mars? How much larger?
This answer to Could one of the interstellar probes discover Planet IX by accident? links to Space.com's NASA May Launch Donated Spy Satellite Telescope to Mars which says:
An unexpected gift
The two ...
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How does JWSTs ISIM direct light into its detectors?
I came across this diagram in the JWST User documentation which explains how light is directed into the ISIM (Integrated Scientific Instrument Module):
But the ISIM contains four detectors (MIRI, ...
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Would it have been cheaper and/or faster to put a James Webb-like Space Telescope on a balloon instead of a rocket?
I've just noticed the following items:
CNET: NASA to send stadium-size balloon skyward to study the cosmos
JPL/NASA News: NASA Mission Will Study the Cosmos With a Stratospheric Balloon Even in 2020 ...
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Do crew movements or movement of other objects ever affect space or Earth observation experiments staged on the outside of ISS?
The ISS serves as a platform for both Earth and astronomical observational instrumentation.
Do routine movements of the crew or other objects ever cause problems for these observations through ...
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Will WFIRST and JWST be able to resolve each other?
The James Webb Space Telescope is scheduled to launch in 2021 and be put in a halo orbit around Sun-Earth L2 soon after. The plan for the Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope is a launch perhaps ...
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Is it possible to control the operation of the Hubble Space Telescope from ground stations?
Is it possible to manage the placement of the telescope mirror in a specific location through the operator, or do we have to randomly view the data reflected to the telescope ?
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At what wavelengths and for what particle types have astronomical objects been imaged or at least directionally resolved from the ISS?
The ISS has an X-ray telescope called NICER and this answer in Astronomy SE (and links therein) explain that it was able to show that there are hot spots clustered near one pole of the pulsar PSR ...
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