In still another National Academy of Sciences report on US needs in astronomy, an ad hoc panel of the Space Sciences Board argues that a large (120‐inch aperture) space telescope could help answer many of today's basic questions. Operated in orbit or on the moon, such an instrument could study objects five magnitudes fainter and ten times further away than is possible on earth. The panel says that the space telescope would be able to make the first measurements of the density, composition and physical state of the gas that surrounds galaxies, an important clue to galactic evolution. The eight‐man committee, headed by Lyman Spitzer Jr. (Princeton), added that the telescope's chief value might well lie, however, in the discovery of entirely new classes of objects.
Skip Nav Destination
Article navigation
January 1970
January 01 1970
NAS Panel Details Advantages Of A Large Telescope in Space
Physics Today 23 (1), 67 (1970);
Citation
NAS Panel Details Advantages Of A Large Telescope in Space. Physics Today 1 January 1970; 23 (1): 67. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3021925
Download citation file:
PERSONAL SUBSCRIPTION
Purchase an annual subscription for $25. A subscription grants you access to all of Physics Today's current and backfile content.
Sign In
You could not be signed in. Please check your credentials and make sure you have an active account and try again.
6
Views
Citing articles via
The lessons learned from ephemeral nuclei
Witold Nazarewicz; Lee G. Sobotka
FYI science policy briefs
Lindsay McKenzie; Jacob Taylor