Space Telescopes

What’s inside

• Why are many space telescopes designed to observe wavelengths that are blocked by Earth's atmosphere?
• What was a major scientific advantage of the Hubble Space Telescope over comparable ground-based optical telescopes?
• Why was the James Webb Space Telescope placed near the Sun–Earth L2 region rather than in low Earth orbit?
• What is the primary purpose of adaptive optics on a ground-based telescope?
• Match each space telescope with the wavelength region it is primarily associated with.
• Match each telescope with a characteristic feature of its mission or design.
• Match each observatory with the type of object or event it is especially useful for studying.
• Match each space telescope with its operational status or destination.