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Disappointed the article didn't discuss the pros/cons of earth-based telescopes versus space based. Why build earth based telescopes when you have the atmospher
by ohitsdom 12y ago
Disappointed the article didn't discuss the pros/cons of earth-based telescopes versus space based. Why build earth based telescopes when you have the atmosphere in the way?
- welterde 12y agoIt's way cheaper to build ground-based telescopes than it is to build space-based ones (and you can easily upgrade it too). Thanks to advances in adaptive optics you can now get most of the properties of space-based telescopes with ground-based ones (even existing ones). One major limit here is what the atmosphere absorbs.. so for X-Ray, Far-IR, etc. you will still need space-missions.. that's where the focus is now set mostly at ESA/NASA/etc..
- IvyMike 12y agoDid you check out the SVG comparing telescope sizes that batbomb posted? The short answer is "you can build 'em a lot bigger" (or maybe "you can build 'em a lot cheaper" if you prefer). These telescopes are gigantic and simply dwarf the James Webb Space Telescope. Adaptive optics have come a long way, too.