details on how rockets help or contribute to astronomy
2006-09-11 14:49:26 · 3 answers · asked by aherna42 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
Several flavors of EM radiation do not even penetrate the atmosphere very well. Certain infrared bands, sub-mm bands, ultraviolet, xray and gamma rays are good examples. Everytime we look in another waveband we have made new discoveries, so just getting all that air out of the way has been a big help in observing in other wavebands.
Some of the most successful missions have been things like GRO (gamma), Chandra (currently flying excellent Xray scope) and SIRTF (currently flying far infrared and submm telescope). FUSE (Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer) and Hubble's UV cameras have also been brilliant and would not be able to do anything from the ground.
2006-09-11 19:43:29 · answer #1 · answered by Mr. Quark 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
1. Put us closer to celestial objects so they can bee seen more clearly, and so that we can see them from angles not available from Earth, such as the back side of the moon.
2. Put us beyond the atmosphere for a better look (The Earth's atmosphere interferes with a clear view. The Hubble Space Telescope is able to get such stunning photography because it doesn't have to "look" through this layer.).
3. Allow us to sample things in space using sensors or experiments aboard a spacecraft.
2006-09-11 14:53:06 · answer #2 · answered by EXPO 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
This isn't rocket science, or maybe it is.
Think about all the discoveries made by the Hubble Telescope. Need rockets for that.
2006-09-11 14:52:57 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋