Astronomers on Earth have their view spoilt by our cloudy, dirty atmosphere, which makes stars seem to twinkle. There is no air in space, so distant objects are much clearer. The Hubble Space Telescope has taken photos of galaxies 13 billion light years away!
Amazing! You can join space telescopes together to make one huge eye in the sky! First, lots of small space telescopes have to be launched into space. Then they need to line up, like beads on a very big necklace. Computers compare what each telescope can see, and fill in the gaps. This can make a virtual telescope as big as a city!
Is it true? The Hubble telescope can see stars being born.
Yes. The Hubble image here shows stars being made in the Eagle Nebula. The fingers of cloud are bigger than our entire solar system. They are made of gas and dust, which slowly collects into lumps. As they grow, the lumps become hotter, creating thousands of new stars!
What happens if the telescope breaks down?
Hubble had to be fixed by astronauts almost as soon as it was launched. The mirror it uses to collect images was the wrong shape, making pictures fuzzy. In December 1993 a shuttle met up with Hubble, and astronauts adjusted the mirror successfully.
Picture Credit : Google
