• Question: Why does the Hubble Telescope work better in space than on the Earth's surface?

    Asked by bhavinamistry to Davie, Gemma, James P, James V, Nuala on 28 Jun 2012.
    • Photo: James Verdon

      James Verdon answered on 28 Jun 2012:


      Hi bhavinamistry,
      All earth-based telescopes have to look through the earth’s atmosphere. Atmospheric interference can distort the images and limit what the scopes can see. Because the Hubble is in space, outside our atmosphere, it doesn’t suffer from atmospheric interference, so it gets a much clearer picture.

    • Photo: James Pope

      James Pope answered on 28 Jun 2012:


      Hi bhavinmistry,

      The distortion to the images from atmospheric interference James V mentions is what makes the stars we see seem to sparkle! We do build some big telecopes in places like the Andes Mountains because we can build them high enough to remove a big chunk of this interference (because the air is thinner at altitude than at sea level)

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