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There were in fact 4 large observatories, of which Hubble was one. Hubble captures light in the visible wavelegnths, the others captured light in other waveleng

by geenew 5y ago

There were in fact 4 large observatories, of which Hubble was one. Hubble captures light in the visible wavelegnths, the others captured light in other wavelenghts. Their pictures aren't as pretty so they get less attention. There's also JWST, as mentioned elsewhere. Hubble - Visible / NIR, 1990 - Present Compton - Gamma Ray / Xray, 1991 - 2000 Chandra - Xray, 1999 - Present Spitzer - Infrared, 2003 - 2020 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Observatories_program https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Observatories_program

pohl 5y ago
Are there any plans for a next generation orbital observatory for the visible part of the spectrum?
- Intermernet 5y ago
  ESA have PLATO ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PLATO_(spacecraft) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PLATO_(spacecraft) ) Which looks very interesting. Meant to launch in 2026. "The PLATO payload is based on a multi-telescope approach, involving 26 cameras in total: a set of 24 "normal" cameras organised in 4 groups, and a set of 2 "fast" cameras for bright stars. The 24 "normal" cameras work at a readout cadence of 25 seconds and monitor stars fainter than apparent magnitude 8. The two "fast" cameras work at a cadence of 2.5 seconds to observe stars between magnitude 4 to 8. The cameras are refracting telescopes using six lenses; each camera has an 1,100 deg2 field and a 120 mm lens diameter. Each camera is equipped with its own CCD staring array, consisting of four CCDs of 4510 x 4510 pixels. The 24 "normal cameras" will be arranged in four groups of six cameras with their lines of sight offset by a 9.2° angle from the +ZPLM axis. This particular configuration allows surveying an instantaneous field of view of about 2,250 deg2 per pointing. The space observatory will rotate around the mean line of sight once per year, delivering a continuous survey of the same region of the sky."
- NortySpock 5y ago
  https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27857959 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27857959 I posted a sibling comment, but both the proposed HabEx and LUVOIR space telescope designs would be visible-light.
dr_orpheus 5y ago
Also Kepler more recently - Visible 2009 - 2018 But again, even though it was "visible" it did not have many pretty pictures because the mission was looking at brightness variations in particular stars (planet transients).
BurningFrog 5y ago
Yeah, I was being overly negative. NASA has produced some very good observatories since Hubble > There's also JWST Which is 15 years late and still on the ground.
- chasd00 5y ago
  I wonder if spacex will enable a spacex version of satellite makers. Some one really into astronomy wants a telescope on space, they put together a biz plan to sell time, pitch it to investors, and use starship to put in orbit affordably.
  - giantrobot 5y ago
    Commercial space launches existed before SpaceX. There's even been relatively inexpensive launch vehicles. Despite this you don't see commercial space telescopes. You don't really even see commercial ground based telescopes. The reason is pretty simple, there's no money to be made. Your potential customers are researchers scraping together grant money. There's no way to make enough to cover the CapEx and OpEx of a space telescope let alone make a profit. There's no magic SpaceX fairy dust you can sprinkle on a project to change that calculus. The launch cost is a small portion of the total CapEx of a space based instrument.
NortySpock 5y ago
In 2016, NASA began considering four different Flagship space telescopes, they are the Habitable Exoplanet Imaging Mission (HabEx), Large UV Optical Infrared Surveyor (LUVOIR), Origins Space Telescope (OST), and Lynx X-ray Observatory. (text from wikipedia) https://www.greatobservatories.org/about https://www.greatobservatories.org/about
peter303 5y ago
The Webb which was originally the 2000s decade premiere project has be holding up the queue for 13 years. The next Roman optical space telescope is slated for 2025.

by geenew 5y ago

pohl 5y ago

Are there any plans for a next generation orbital observatory for the visible part of the spectrum?

Intermernet 5y ago
ESA have PLATO ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PLATO_(spacecraft) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PLATO_(spacecraft) ) Which looks very interesting. Meant to launch in 2026. "The PLATO payload is based on a multi-telescope approach, involving 26 cameras in total: a set of 24 "normal" cameras organised in 4 groups, and a set of 2 "fast" cameras for bright stars. The 24 "normal" cameras work at a readout cadence of 25 seconds and monitor stars fainter than apparent magnitude 8. The two "fast" cameras work at a cadence of 2.5 seconds to observe stars between magnitude 4 to 8. The cameras are refracting telescopes using six lenses; each camera has an 1,100 deg2 field and a 120 mm lens diameter. Each camera is equipped with its own CCD staring array, consisting of four CCDs of 4510 x 4510 pixels. The 24 "normal cameras" will be arranged in four groups of six cameras with their lines of sight offset by a 9.2° angle from the +ZPLM axis. This particular configuration allows surveying an instantaneous field of view of about 2,250 deg2 per pointing. The space observatory will rotate around the mean line of sight once per year, delivering a continuous survey of the same region of the sky."
NortySpock 5y ago
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27857959 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27857959 I posted a sibling comment, but both the proposed HabEx and LUVOIR space telescope designs would be visible-light.

dr_orpheus 5y ago

Also Kepler more recently - Visible 2009 - 2018 But again, even though it was "visible" it did not have many pretty pictures because the mission was looking at brightness variations in particular stars (planet transients).

BurningFrog 5y ago

Yeah, I was being overly negative. NASA has produced some very good observatories since Hubble > There's also JWST Which is 15 years late and still on the ground.

chasd00 5y ago
I wonder if spacex will enable a spacex version of satellite makers. Some one really into astronomy wants a telescope on space, they put together a biz plan to sell time, pitch it to investors, and use starship to put in orbit affordably.
- giantrobot 5y ago
  Commercial space launches existed before SpaceX. There's even been relatively inexpensive launch vehicles. Despite this you don't see commercial space telescopes. You don't really even see commercial ground based telescopes. The reason is pretty simple, there's no money to be made. Your potential customers are researchers scraping together grant money. There's no way to make enough to cover the CapEx and OpEx of a space telescope let alone make a profit. There's no magic SpaceX fairy dust you can sprinkle on a project to change that calculus. The launch cost is a small portion of the total CapEx of a space based instrument.

NortySpock 5y ago

In 2016, NASA began considering four different Flagship space telescopes, they are the Habitable Exoplanet Imaging Mission (HabEx), Large UV Optical Infrared Surveyor (LUVOIR), Origins Space Telescope (OST), and Lynx X-ray Observatory. (text from wikipedia) https://www.greatobservatories.org/about https://www.greatobservatories.org/about

peter303 5y ago

The Webb which was originally the 2000s decade premiere project has be holding up the queue for 13 years. The next Roman optical space telescope is slated for 2025.