My Science School

Seeing even further

Some objects are so far away and so faint in our sky that we can’t see them clearly, even with the most powerful telescopes on Earth. But scientists have found two ways to view such distant objects: space probes and space telescopes.

A space probe is a spacecraft with no people on board. A probe may go far out into space, or it may land on a planet or moon. Some space probes bring samples back to Earth. Others make one-way journeys, sending back photos and information.

A space telescope is a telescope that stays in space. NASA launched the Hubble Space Telescope from a space shuttle in 1990. The Hubble orbits Earth about 600 kilometres above the surface. It is controlled by radio commands from NASA. The telescope can observe objects 50 times fainter than telescopes on Earth can. It also studies ultraviolet light blocked by Earth’s atmosphere.