Why put the astronomical telescope of more than 30 billion yen in space

When we look up at the night sky and observe the stars, the equipment that puts on the "ground" to look through the lens is the astronomical telescope, while the astronomical telescope to put in "the universe" is the "space telescope". In 2019 NASA is a space of more than 1.5 million km away from the earthLagrange pointToJames Webb Space TelescopeLaunch the rocket in space to set upplansis. James Webb Space Telescope will be retiredHubble Space TelescopeIt was designed as a successor to. The planned development cost of the Hubble Space Telescope to retireInitiallyThe James Webb Space Telescope, which will take over the mission at 300 million dollars (about 33.8 billion yen), is also planning "expensive operation cost". Videos explaining why the astronomical telescope is launched into space with a rocket and why it should not be installed on the ground are expanding why it is expensive.

Why Do We Put Telescopes in Space? - YouTube


The following images are galaxies and stars captured by the astronomical telescope installed in space, the Hubble Space Telescope.


Even stars shining like this jewel ... ...


All the galaxies describing this vortex are all captured by the Hubble Space Telescope from the universe, and these photographed pictures have brought about major changes in the field of astronomyInnovativeIt was


For example, if we try to see stars using the astronomical telescope from the ground in the same way, the stars reflected on the lens become blurred.


The primary cause of blurring like this is due to the air we are casually holding together, that is, the atmosphere.


When trying to observe the universe from the ground, clouds, smoke, fog, etc contained in the atmosphere will block the light.


Even if the sky is beautifully sunny ... ...


Since the air itself blocks most wavelengths of light, what we can observe from the ground is the visible light (visible light), part of the infrared light, electromagnetic waves and so on.


Also, in the daytime, molecules of air contained in the atmosphere diffuse the visible light diffusely, and it will drown out the light from the stars.


Furthermore, even at night, the light of the moon and the light emitted by humans are reflected by the molecules of air, causing the light from distant stars, very dark stars, galaxies and the like to be blurred.


Besides that, the atmosphere itself becomes like a mosaic and gets in the way.


The atmosphere is always moving due to air currents and heat, and it bends the light coming out of stars.


In other words, when the sun is rising sunlight and clouds ......


In the night the light of the moon and the artificial light and the astronomical telescope on the ground are always exposed to obstacles, so we set up the astronomical telescope in the atmosphere free of space.


There is another merit to placing the astronomical telescope in the universe. One of them is that it is possible to observe at any time 24 hours.


Also, by keeping a distance from the earth, you can lower the temperature of the telescope body by avoiding the influence of infrared rays emitted by the earth as heat.


By doing so, it becomes possible to improve the accuracy of observation using infrared light. For example, the James Webb Space Telescope is going to be installed more than 1.5 million km from the earth.


On the other hand, space telescope has a problem born by installing in space. Because it launches to the universe with a rocket, it is limited to the size to enter the rocket, and the operation expenses become expensive.


The James Webb Space Telescope scheduled for launch in 2019 will cost 10,800 million dollars (about 1 trillion yen 1.8 billion yen) in operating expenses including data centers etc.Trial calculationIt has been.

ByNASA's James Webb Space Telescope

Because expensive rockets must be loaded, expensive expenses are required for maintenance and personnel transportation.


To the Hubble Space Telescope that was held several times in the pastRepair / renovationIn the case of,Agenda of the US CongressSpace Shuttle did a large amount of expenses to become.

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However, when you put the astronomical telescope in the universe, you can clearly observe many lights emanating from galaxies and stars, including invisible light in this way.