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To: KevinDavis
From the article :Some argue that repairing Hubble is pointless, since ground-based observatories have overtaken its capabilities. But terrestrial telescopes fall short of HST's resolution by a factor of 10 or more

So is it obsolete or not?

4 posted on 04/03/2007 7:57:04 PM PDT by gdc314
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To: gdc314

HST’s resolution can be outclassed by terrestrial telescopes fitted with adaptive optics, so in that respect the claim “terrestrial telescopes fall short of HST’s resolution by a factor of 10 or more” is not true, not by a long shot. On the other hand, Hubble can work 24x7 ‘cos it’s always nighttime in space.

The cost-benefits of keeping it in working order have to be getting marginal though.

Personally I don’t see why we can’t launch an optical space telescope with a 5m mirror on an EELV. Would make a great companion to JWST. Cost is an issue of course, but with instruments for Hubble running at ~ $100m each and a Shuttle launch costing half a billion dollars, keeping Hubble running is not exactly cheap. Apart from Hubble every space telescope is designed for “disposable” use with a nominal lifetime.


18 posted on 04/04/2007 2:49:17 AM PDT by alnitak ("That kid's about as sharp as a pound of wet liver" - Foghorn Leghorn)
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