OT: Hubble rulez !
 

"The discovery will lend support to the idea that almost every sunlike star in our galaxy, and probably the Universe, is accompanied by planets."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3856401.stm

Re: OT: Hubble rulez !
 

That's great news. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif Let's hope that they'll keep the Hubble maintained and operating until they build an even better space telescope.

Re: OT: Hubble rulez !
 

The next space telescope (that operates at optical wavelengths, like Hubble), is set to be the James Webb Space Telescope, slated to be launched in 2010 I believe.

Re: OT: Hubble rulez !
 

No, the James Webb scope only operates in the 'near infra-red' not in visible light frequencies. It is designed for seeking out the most distant features in the universe (cosmology research). Once Hubble is gone we have no space telescopes for visible light. Apparently the new computer techniques for fixing atmosphere distortion are good enough that ground-based telescopes will be better than any reasonable sized space telescope. The burden of launch weight for any space telescope makes it very hard to compete with this innovation.

Re: OT: Hubble rulez !
 

Oops....well thanks for setting me straight! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Re: OT: Hubble rulez !
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">So it seems to me that a space telescope with filtering would be even better.

Re: OT: Hubble rulez !
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">But the base distance between two or more telescopes in space allows the interferometer type experiments to detect Earth size planets across the Galaxy ... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/shock.gif

Re: OT: Hubble rulez !
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">But the base distance between two or more telescopes in space allows the interferometer type experiments to detect Earth size planets across the Galaxy ... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/shock.gif </font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">It would be a layout for Terrestrial Planet Finder (TPF) telescope's array. Aimed to 2015.

Re: OT: Hubble rulez !
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">I think he meant just that the atmosphere of the Earth distorts the images, which is why ground based ones have been no good (compared to Hubble). Now that computers can take care of the distortion, a single telescope on the ground is just as good as one in space.

[ July 04, 2004, 00:18: Message edited by: Imperator Fyron ]

Re: OT: Hubble rulez !
 

Yes, that's it exactly. Space-based telescopes don't need the filtering to correct for the atmosphere. It would have no effect on a space telescope to try to correct for atmosphere. But it turns out that the huge cost of boosting something into orbit, and the difficulties of servicing it there, make ground based telescopes with the correction system seem a pretty good deal.

And as already pointed out, oleg, there is an interferometer in the works. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif