Space Telescopes & Astronomical Observatories

Space telescopes observe the cosmos across the electromagnetic spectrum without atmospheric distortion, absorption, or light pollution. The Hubble Space Telescope, launched in 1990 into low Earth orbit, revolutionized optical and ultraviolet astronomy. In December 2021, NASA, ESA, and CSA launched the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), operating at the Sun-Earth Lagrange Point 2 (L2) with a 6.5-meter gold-coated beryllium mirror to capture high-redshift infrared light from the earliest galaxies. Major ground-based arrays include the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT)—which captured the first direct images of black hole shadows in M87* and Sagittarius A*—and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in Chile.