Exploring Space
Many of the things that we have discovered about the Solar System were discovered as a result of improved technology. From telescopes to space probes and rockets, humans have developed many ways in which we can see what is happening within and outside of the Earth's atmosphere.
Space probes are used to land on or fly past other planets, and send pictures back to us on Earth. They are large machines that take a long time to build and cost a lot of money to produce. Space probes give us information about the surfaces of other planets, even the ones that are too dangerous for people to explore.
The Space Shuttle is more commonly known by students as a means of exploring space. While some other space crafts may only be used once to get information to us, the Shuttle can be used a few times. The Shuttle can bring people up into space to explore objects, launch satellites, and make repairs to the Space Station.
Astronomers use telescopes in order to find out information about space. Two types are optical and radio, where optical telescopes collect light from objects and radio telescopes collect radio waves that are sent out from objects in space. Pictures can be made from either type of telescopes. In 1990, the Hubble Telescope was launched into orbit. Even over 15 years later, this telescope is still in space producing pictures of the universe that are very clear and impressive. While telescopes do give us information, Earth bound telescopes are often hampered by factors that decrease or sp their usefulness, These factors include, but are not limited to: pollution, city lights and clouds in the sky. There are three sites around the globe that are the best places for telescopes to be placed due to these hindering conditions; the Canary Islands, Hawaii, and multiple parts of Chile. When viewing through a telescope in other locations, there is a chance that what is being seen is limited due to less than optimal conditions of the atmosphere. Everywhere on Earth there is a narrow window of transparency that lets stellar radiation through, but in addition there is turbulence in the atmosphere that prevent us from getting a clear view into space. This turbulence varies in degree from place to place, but to some degree it is always present. In order to get around this problem, we send telescopes past the Earth's atmosphere into space. These will produce clearer pictures and look further into space than what we can accomplish on the ground.
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