dipper@utastro.UUCP (Debbie Byrd) (03/02/85)
In 1986, a telescope will be launched into outer space. More on Space Telescope -- in a minute. March 2 Space Telescope Astronomers have learned more about the universe in this century than in all of recorded history. What's more, the pace of discovery is due to pick up, with the launch of Space Telescope in 1986. Space Telescope is pretty large. Its primary mirror is 94 inches wide -- about half the size of the largest telescope in the United States today. But what'll make this telescope so powerful is the fact that it'll be located in orbit around the Earth -- above the blanket of Earth's atmosphere. The atmosphere hinders astronomy. Looking through it even with a telescope is a little bit like opening your eyes under water. Space Telescope will be able to see more clearly than any other telescope ever has -- simply because it'll be above the atmosphere. This telescope is due to be launched by the Space Shuttle in mid-1986. It'll be able to see star-like objects more than ten times fainter than any we can see now, increasing the volume of the universe we can explore by more than 30 times. So if you think astronomy is exciting now, just wait a few years for the revelations of Space Telescope. It's bound to increase our understanding of the known phenomena of the universe -- and to discover new phenomena we haven't yet begun to imagine. Script by Deborah Byrd. (c) Copyright 1984, 1985 McDonald Observatory, University of Texas at Austin