Analysis and Evaluations for the Detection Results of the Advanced

Telescopes

Tingyue Yang

Jericho High School, Jericho, U.S.A.

Keywords: Space Telescopes, Telescope’s Mission, Astrophysics Observations.

Abstract: As a matter of fact, telescopes are the most widely adopted facilities to realize the intensity distribution as

well as spectra emitted or reflected by celestials for cosmology and astrophysics observations. With the

development of the state-of-art techniques in optics and data analysing, it is available to achieve more

accuracy observations (e.g., black hole photographing). With this in mind, this paper will be discussing about

the fundamental idea of space telescopes, including different types of telescopes and the corresponding

methods telescopes use for detecting celestial objects. To be specific, this study will discuss three telescopes

in detail, with the instruments each carries, their capability, the process of detection, the telescope’s mission,

and recent scientific discoveries and their significance. According to the analysis, this study will discuss the

limitations and prospects of space telescopes at the current time. Overall, these results pave a path and offer

suggestions for future telescopes designs and construction.

1 INTRODUCTION

After the invention of optics, Galileo invented a

telescope in the 17th century using lenses. Before that

time, people used naked eyes and other instruments

to study astronomy, telescope was a new method for

people to study the sky above them. (King, 2003)

Telescopes for space observation have rapidly

developed ever since, people have invented more

advanced telescopes for astronomical observations,

and the understanding of the universe has increased

quickly. During this process, the telescope serves as

the most fundamental tool to learn about the universe.

Observing and detecting all sorts of phenomena in the

universe helped us discover many things, and

concluded formulas and theories from the

observational results. A unique property of light, or

electromagnetic radiation gives us the chance to peek

back to the past of the universe. Taking a look deeper

into the universe means to look further backward,

Humans get to study the evolution of this space lived

in, all relying on the help of these space telescopes.

More recently, some of the most powerful

telescopes in the world have brought new and

significant discoveries that will tell us about the

universe. With strong spectroscopy capability, the

James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) was able to

learn more about the planets with high redshift. By

studying the planet’s composition, JWST acquired

new information about the composition of a few of

the earliest stars in the observable universe (Carnall

et al., 2022). Similarly, the ground telescope Gran

Telescopic Canarias has also broken the traditional

understanding of ring dynamics, having an unusual

finding in the solar system, creating a blindspot on the

current comprehension of rings (Morgado et al.,

2023). Moving to other parts of the electromagnetic

spectrum, the Chandra X-ray observatory has

detected x-ray emissions from neutron stars emerging

and collision, exploring possibilities of multi-

messenger events (Troja et al., 2017).

The role of space telescopes is only to collect

information emitted from space in the form of

electromagnetic radiation on or near Earth, which are

limited to observing, collecting as much of this

radiation as possible with greater accuracy and

sensitivity (Bely, 2003).

Two types of telescopes in modern times are

known as space-based and ground-based telescopes.

Space-based telescopes can be further sorted into

telescopes carrying instruments that collect

information from different frequencies. Frequencies

of gamma-ray, x-ray, ultraviolet, visible, infrared,

microwave, and radio differentiate space telescopes

in their use and observation targets.

Yang, T.

Analysis and Evaluations for the Detection Results of the Advanced Telescopes.

DOI: 10.5220/0013077800004601

Paper published under CC license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

In Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Innovations in Applied Mathematics, Physics and Astronomy (IAMPA 2024), pages 343-351

ISBN: 978-989-758-722-1

343

Ground-based telescopes have three major

categories which are divided based on observation

methods: reflecting telescope, refracting telescope,

and catadioptric telescopes. These types of telescopes

are differentiated by methods of light collecting,

further by aperture. Additionally, the effectiveness of

telescopes is determined by the light-gathering power

of the optical system. With a higher aperture,

telescopes can produce a higher resolution of detected

results, thus allowing the analysis to be more in-depth

and detailed. The need for a space-based telescope is

due to the presence of the atmosphere. Earth’s

atmosphere constantly changes, and ground-based

observation often encounters turbulence in the

atmosphere. Thus, resulting in an inconsistent

performance of the telescope, further causing the

observed image to be blurred and unclear.

Furthermore, another property of Earth’s atmosphere

blocks off some electromagnetic radiation

wavelengths. Short wavelengths of radiation are

dangerous to human health but crucial in helping to

shape a better understanding of the universe.

Figure 1 shows a spectrograph of electromagnetic

radiation in different wavelengths getting blocked by

Earth’s atmosphere. The graph below includes the

elements within the atmosphere blocking the

corresponding wavelength of radiation, as well as the

percentages of blockage. Capturing these specific

wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation would

require us to send telescopes outside of the Earth’s

atmosphere. This creates space-based telescopes to

better detect these radiation wavelengths in a more

stable environment relative to Earth. Nevertheless,

the cost of space-based telescopes is significantly

more than ground-based telescopes. Once sent out

into space, maintenance and servicing would be

difficult to conduct, thus limiting the capabilities of

space-based telescopes.

Figure 1: Spectrograph of electromagnetic radiation (Bely,

2003).

2 M DESCRIPTION OF TELESCOPES

Both types of telescopes consist of primary and

secondary mirrors but ground-based ones are

significantly larger than space-based telescopes for

the following reasons. Without considering sending

the telescopes to a specific orbit, the weight

limitations that the rockets can carry, in comparison

with space-based telescopes, gound-based optical

telescopes are typically equipped with a larger

primary and secondary mirror. Slow gains in

resolution have been made by employing better and

larger optics, by moving to better sites, and, more

recently, by compensating for atmospheric turbulence

and going into space (Bely, 2003). As mentioned,

atmosphere turbulence is the most dominant obstacle

for ground-based telescopes, hence affecting

observation efficiency and clarity.

Ground-based reflecting type optical telescopes

can capture electromagnetic radiation using their

parabolic-shaped primary mirror, with specialized

designed shape, material used, and placements. For

ground-based telescopes to work most effectively,

they also have strict limitations regarding their

location. Since telescopes are extremely sensitive to

the electromagnetic radiation they receive, ensuring

the best observation result, telescopes need to be far

away from city lights or any other possible bright

light sources. Possible light pollution glows up its

surrounding environment and atmosphere, bright

light from other light sources nearby telescopes will

dim or disrupt celestial light, even covering up the

light emitted by celestial objects.

Most ground-based telescopes are located in high

altitudes to avoid atmosphere turbulence (Steiner,

1966). Earth’s atmosphere is not a uniform medium,

rather it has different densities and compositions in

distinct areas. In addition, turbulence in the

atmosphere lowers the resolution of observations. To

avoid that, setting up an observatory at a high altitude

may be essential. Higher altitudes also provide a

thinner atmosphere layer, producing a clearer,

unobstructed view of the universe. Due to the thinner

atmosphere layer allowing infrared radiation to

penetrate through more easily, it thus helps with

infrared detection. In many locations of ground-based

optical telescopes scattered worldwide, most are

owned by a national government or government-

funded institution, carrying out their mission.

Refractor telescopes use the objective lens at the

tip to focus all incoming light. By accurate high-

precision polishing, the converging lens with its

curved surface refracts all the incoming light into an

angle, allowing light to meet up at one focal point

onto an eyepiece or instrument for observation.

Telescopes using this method have limitations since

the light is being refracted at an angle, for the light

going through the center of the lens can pass right

down to the instrument. However, the light going

through the lens at the edge has to be refracted at an

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angle to gather into a focal point, telescopes would

have required distance for refracted light to travel, to

meet up with the rest of the light into the instrument

equipped by the telescope, making the tube of

refractor telescope significantly longer than other two

methods. Still, both the manufacturer's difficulty and

cost of this telescope substantially increase as its size

and resolution increase. This is due to the difficulty

of producing large and high-precision lenses without

any defects since the edge of the lens is extremely

fragile. Another problem that refractor telescopes

commonly encounter is the chromatic aberration

caused by different indices of refraction for each

wavelength of light. Chromatic aberration can be

calibrated by using a second carefully designed lens

mounted behind the main objective lens of the

telescope to compensate for the chromatic aberration

and cause two wavelengths to focus at the same point.

An example of a refractor telescope is the Yerkes

Observatory Refractor. The Yerkes 40-inch was the

largest refracting-type telescope in the world when it

was completed in 1897. Research conducted at

Yerkes in the last decade includes work on the

interstellar medium, globular cluster formation,

infrared astronomy, and near-Earth objects. Another

type of telescope is the catadioptric telescope, which

has an optical system of combination refraction and

reflection. The catadioptric telescope consists of both

lenses and mirrors to form images, utilize the benefits,

and minimize the disadvantages of each. Incoming

light first passes through a corrector lens, which

effectively helps reduce the telescope’s optical

aberration. The light then passes down to the primary

mirror at the bottom of the tube, which then reflects

all the light onto the secondary mirror, allowing the

secondary mirror to reflect concentrated light into the

instrument. Catadioptric telescopes typically have

two branches, being Schmidt-Cassegrain Telescopes

and Maksutov-Cassegrain Telescopes. Although both

have similar structures, Maksutov-Cassegrain

Telescopes equip a thin, meniscus-shaped corrector

lens. In contrast, Schmidt-Cassegrain Telescopes

equip a thin, aspherical lens, and corrector lens lenses

to correct optical aberration. In comparison, the

Maksutov-Cassegrain telescope works better due to

its thin lens, providing better correction to optical

aberration, and resulting in a higher price.

The last and most common type of ground-based

telescope is the reflecting telescope. The telescope’s

primary mirror can concentrate as much light as

possible into one focal point. Afterward, the

secondary mirror reflects all the captured light in the

focal point onto the instrument for observation. The

primary mirror on the telescopes is adjustable using

the optic system, allowing it to change the angle and

direction it faces. This is to collect radiation more

effectively and to avoid turbulence in the atmosphere.

Large mirrors are easier to manufacture than lenses,

making reflecting telescopes the most common type

for ground-based observation. Additionally, a

reflecting telescope wouldn’t experience chromatic

aberration since light isn’t going to be dispersed

through lenses during the process,

Earth’s atmosphere is transparent for radiations in

the radio frequency, making ground-based

observation possible. Radio telescopes are one of

them, literally collecting radio waves emitted by the

universe. Unlike optical telescopes that use a lens or

mirror, radio telescopes equip a large parabolic-

shaped metal dish with an antenna in the middle.

However, similar to optical telescopes, the dish can

reflect and concentrate all the radiation into the feed

horn in the middle. This will then direct all the

focused radiation to the receiver that amplifies these

weak signals for recording. Radio telescopes usually

scatter many dishes in a region, and with precise

placements, many dishes can serve as a radio

telescope that covers the whole area. This method is

known as interferometry, providing excellent

observation for a low budget.

Similar to ground-based optical telescopes, space-

based optical telescopes target the visible wavelength

and are equipped with a primary mirror and

secondary mirror to capture and concentrate light. On

top of that, they also have a guidance control system,

and a communication system to keep in contact with

the earth. In certain situations, some telescopes will

have specialized equipment for their unique scientific

goal of detection. The Hubble space telescope is a

perfect example of a space-based optical telescope,

by collecting visible celestial lights using mirrors,

while the HST orbits around Earth, its observation

isn’t affected by the atmosphere’s turbulence and

captures images with higher resolution. Although the

telescope is located in space, astronauts can service it

in orbit, extending its lifespan from 15 years to now,

which is already 34 years. Its main missions included

studying the formation and evolution of galaxies and

stars, studying and mapping dark matter,

investigating black holes, and more.

Infrared space-based telescopes focus on the

infrared wavelength of the electromagnetic spectrum,

which is typically emitted by hot objects in the

universe that can penetrate through space dust clouds,

making it extremely useful for studying the universe.

Heated objects emit thermal radiations that consist of

various wavelengths of radiation, infrared

wavelength being the most dominant. From a design

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level, infrared telescopes are like optical visible

wavelength telescopes, using mirrors made out of

materials most effective in reflecting infrared

radiation to collect incoming infrared radiations and

focus them into the instrument. One key difference is

the requirement of a cooling system for infrared

telescopes. As mentioned, infrared telescopes

observe thermal radiation, and their instrument is

sensitive to any thermal radiation source, including

the telescope itself. The cooling system on the

telescope is to lower the noise caused by thermal

radiation emitted by the telescope itself. Such thermal

emission can be caused by exposure to the sun or even

its optics and electronics. Therefore infrared detection

is best done in space rather than on Earth. Not only

does the atmosphere have turbulence and absorb

some of the radiation, but objects on Earth potentially

release too much heat that interferes with the

telescope.

X-ray is another type of electromagnetic radiation

blocked by Earth’s atmosphere, requiring an

observatory to be located in space. X-ray radiation

has short wavelengths and high energy, giving it the

ability to penetrate through materials easily.

Therefore, X-ray telescopes don’t work the way

telescopes in longer wavelengths usually work. Due

to high penetration power, x-ray telescopes usually

use smooth surfaces to reflect X-rays at a shallow

angle, making radiations ricochet off the reflective

surface, into the instrument. Gamma-ray is the

shortest wavelength of radiation on the

electromagnetic spectrum, it easily penetrates

through most objects, except for the earth’s

atmosphere. Space-based gamma-ray telescopes do

not use reflective mirrors, because gamma-ray

penetrates right through. Hence, unlike x-ray

telescopes, gamma-ray telescopes typically don’t

equip reflective mirrors, but rather detection methods

that interact with gamma rays each time radiation

strikes them.

3 JAMES WEBB SPACE TELESCOPE

(JWST)

JWST is a space telescope that mainly focuses on the

infrared observation of the universe. The James Webb

Space Telescope was launched on December 25,

2021, and in January of 2022 it arrived at its

observing orbit, L2 Lagrange point 2. L2 Lagrange

allows the JWST to maintain the same orbiting speed

as Earth concerning the sun, offering stable

communication with the Earth, additionally, being on

the same side of the Earth and moon blocks some

thermal radiation from the sun. The telescope is

equipped with 6.5 meters, 18 segments of the

hexagonal-shaped primary mirror, providing a much

wider view than the Hubble space telescope’s 2.4

meters diameter mirror, capable of higher resolution

observation (McElwain et al., 2023). JWST equips

four high-precision near-infrared observational

instruments. NIRSPec, NIRCam, MIRI and

FGS/NIRISS.

NIRCam, as an infrared imager, provides a range

of observational wavelengths, covering from visible

light 0.6 μm to the near-infrared 5 μm, allowing it to

capture lights from the earliest galaxies and stars

formed in the universe. The NIRSpec is a

spectrograph that provides observation from 0.6-5.3

µm infrared wavelength with 3 different resolutions,

with the lowest resolution at R ≃ 100 mode, intended

for obtaining exploratory continuum spectra and

redshifts of remote galaxies. The intermediate

resolution R ≃ 1000 mode is designed to accurately

measure their nebular emission lines, and the higher

resolution R ≃ 2700 mode performs kinematic

studies using these emission lines (Jakobsen et al.,

2022). With the emission lines captured, the data can

be analyzed to determine different properties of the

observation target, such as the target’s temperature,

mass, and chemical composition.

MIRI stands for mid-infrared instruments, it

focuses on a different wavelength, from 5 to 27 μm.

MIRI includes both a camera and a spectrometer for

mid-infrared range observation. Lastly, FGS/NIRISS

stands for Fine Guidance Sensor, Near Infrared

Imager, and Slitless Spectrograph, it is used to

stabilize the telescope during observation, and

correctly adjust and maintain the telescope's line of

sight. As mentioned earlier, infrared telescopes are

extremely sensitive to thermal radiations, such a

principle applies to JWST as well.

OTE optics must be below 55K to function

properly, the NIRISS must be below 45K, and the

MIRI must be cooled to 6K. In addition, a cooling

system is attached to instruments to reduce

temperature passively. JWST provides a 15-meter

wide and 21-meter-long, 5-layer sun shield that

effectively reduces other thermal radiation that

creates noises for the observation (Menzel et al.,

2023). JWST has four main missions during its

operation: finding light from the earliest star formed

in the universe and studying the formation and

evolution of galaxies. Third, understanding the

formation of stars and planets and studying planetary

formation and origin of life.

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During the operation of JWST, one

got to discover much older galaxies

thanks to NIR instruments. Before

JWST was in operation, the latest

galaxies one discovered using Hubble

and Spitzer space telescope was the

GN-z11galaxy with redshift z ≈ 11.09.

JWST allowed us to not only study more

galaxies from 5 < z < 9 redshifts and

even more galaxies with redshift z > 10

were detected, such as the CEERS

(Cosmic Evolution Early Release

Science) project, which has detected

galaxies with redshift z > 15, studying

the evolution of these galaxies.

Figure 2 was formed by NIRSpec, providing

spectrographs for galaxies that were difficult to

capture and study before. The bottom row of the

graph shows galaxies with a redshift of 5~9.

According to past research with ground-based

telescopes and Hubble space telescopes, there was not

enough evidence to support the claim that early

galaxies in the observable universe contain heavy

elements (Carnall et al. 2022). JWST is capable of

capturing and analyzing the results of these high

redshift galaxies. Spectrograph evidence shows

oxygen’s presence in these galaxies, changing the

understanding of the early galaxies and that they are

only composed of light elements, such as hydrogen

and helium. However, through observation, heavier

elements usually produced by nuclear fusion are

present in high redshift galaxies as well, renewing the

understanding of the evolution and formation of early

galaxies.

Figure 2: Spectrographs for galaxies formed by NIRSpec (Carnall et al. 2022).

4 GRAN TELESCOPIO

CANARIAS

(GTC)

Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC) is a ground-

reflecting optical telescope located in Roque de los

Muchachos Observatory on the island of La Palma, in

the Canary Islands, Spain. It’s known as the world’s

largest single-aperture telescope, with 36 hexagonal

segments that work together to form a single,

unbroken surface of the primary mirror 10.4 meters

in diameter. Since the island is located at an altitude

of approximately 2,396 meters, the telescope avoids

surrounding light pollution, and atmospheric

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347

turbulence gets significantly reduced, providing a

clearer view. However, the remote location also

caused the shipment and assembly of the telescope to

be delayed, as well as its date of operation and first

light being pushed backward. The first light of this

telescope was achieved on 13 July 2007, and it was

put on a mission in 2009. GTC doesn’t have main

missions that it focuses on, however, organizations

send proposals to assign GTC observation targets.

Due to its strong near-infrared and mid-infrared

wavelength observation technologies, it has

advantages in detecting and studying exoplanets,

studying dark matter, and observing astronomical

events such as supernova explosions. GTC equips 5

main instruments, they are the following OSIRIS,

EMIR, MEGARA, HiPERCAM, and CanariCam.

Among them, OSIRIS, EMIR, and MEGARA equip

adaptive optics enhancing their imaging ability, and

encountering atmosphere turbulence, making it

essential for near-infrared instruments.

OSIRIS and MEGARA are both visible light

wavelength spectrographic instruments. OSIRIS

(Optical System for Imaging and low-resolution

Integrated Spectroscopy) is an imager and

spectrograph covering wavelengths from 0.365 to 1

μm. With a wide field of view (FOV) of 7 × 7 arcmin,

direct imaging, and 8 arcmin × 5.2 arcmin for low-

resolution spectroscopy (Cepa J. et al, 2003),

although it has low resolution, its FOV can capture a

large area of space. Additionally, it can provide

spectrographs that can be used for broad analysis of

multiple targets such as stellar population.

MEGARA (Multi-Espectrografo en GTC de Alta

Resolucion para Astronomia) is also a multi-target

spectrograph with an observation wavelength from

0.365 to 0.97 μm, with a FOV of 3.5 arcmin x 3.5

arcmin. The main difference between it and OSIRIS

is that MEGARA offers a high-resolution imager,

giving a more detailed spectrograph great for deep

analysis of the speed and composition of targets (de

Paz, 2014).

MERI (Espectrógrafo Multiobjeto Infra-Rojo) is a

near-infrared wide-field imager and medium-

resolution multi-object spectrograph, working with

wavelength 0.9 - 2.5 µm and FOV of 6.67 arcmin x

6.67 arcmin. It serves a similar purpose to MEGARA

and OSIRIS, on top of that, it can form images rapidly,

specializing in capturing more drastically changing

phenomena with high frame rates, such as exploring

exoplanets and recording supernovae explosions.

HiPERCAM is another instrument specialized in

high frame rate observation, capable of observing

transiting stars and supernovae explosions, high

frame rates allow it to capture the light curves of fast-

changing phenomena, complementing MERI’s mid

resolution, providing further detail for in-depth study.

CanariCam is capable of performing imaging,

spectroscopy, polarimetry, and coronography in the

10 and 20 µm atmospheric windows. It mainly

focused on 7.5 and 25 μm of mid-infrared observation,

capturing high-resolution images in 3 arcmin x 3

arcmin resolution. Still, compared to other

instruments on the telescope, CanariCam focuses on

warmer objects emitting mid-infrared wavelengths of

light, such as star-forming regions, evolved stars, and

planetary atmospheres.

GTC has recently discovered a dwarf planet with

a ring outside its Roche limit through the stellar

occultation method. The dwarf planet called Quaoar

is located in the Kuiper Belt, within the solar system.

GTC has recorded the light curves of occultation stars,

with the HiPERCAM instrument, using a four-band

system with 0.40–0.55 μm, 0.550-0.69 μm, 0.69–

0.82 μm, and 0.82–1.00 μm filters, such precise and

high framerate photometry instrument on GTC was

able to capture Quaoar and its ring. According to the

Roche limit, the celestial object can maintain its shape

and should not be broken down by the tidal force

exerted by the planet, but this discovery didn’t follow

the Roche limit, such significant finding changes the

understanding of the ring system, indicating the

potential changes of Roche limit and ring dynamics

in distant places (Morgado et al., 2023). Figure. 3

shows the light curve observed by HiPERCAM in

0.69–0.82 μm wavelength, the blue highlighted area

in Figure A is enlarged and shown in Figures B and

C. The changes in flux indicate the ring of Quaoar.

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Figure 3: The light curve observed by HiPERCAM in 0.69–0.82 μm wavelength (Morgado et al., 2023).

5 CHANDRA X-RAY

OBSERVATORY

Chandra X-ray Observatory is a space-based

telescope. Chandra was launched in July 1999 by

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

(NASA), and the first picture by Chandra was taken

just a month afterward. The telescope was planned to

operate the mission for about 5-10 years, but by then

the mission had far exceeded expectations, Chandra

has operated until today, for more than two decades.

The observatory has an extremely elliptical orbit,

with a Perigee altitude of 14,307.9 km and an Apogee

altitude of 134,527.6 km. An elliptical orbit like this

allows Chandra to utilize about 70% of its 63.5 hours

of orbital rotation to continuously make observations.

(Weisskopf et al., 2000). X-ray assembly is the high-

resolution mirror assembly, with extreme smoothness,

and carefully assembled mirror with accuracy to just

a few micrometers, which allows Chandra to reflect

high-energy X-rays into the instruments.

Chandra has 5 main instruments, being ACIS,

HRC, LEGT, and HEGT. ACIS stands for Advanced

CCD Imaging Spectrometer with FOV or 8.4 arcmin

x 8.4 arcmin. It is a high-resolution imaging and

spectroscopy instrument on board, it can translate the

x-ray it receives into electrical signals using Charge-

Coupled Devices (CCDs), making information

readable. HETG and LETG stand for low and high-

energy transmission grating. They are similar in their

function, both are designed for high-resolution

spectroscopy and work together with ACIS. HETG

aims for higher energy x-rays for a wavelength range

from 1.2 to 31 Å (0.12 to 3.1 nm) while LETG aims

for a wavelength from 5 to 175 Å (0.5 to 17.5 nm),

providing a spectrum of observed targets for further

analysis. Lastly, HRC stands for High-Resolution

Camera, it provides highly detailed imaging power

for the telescope with a wide FOV of 31 arcmin x 31

arcmin. HRC has a resolution exceeding ACIS, high-

resolution imaging is crucial for high-energy

observation, capturing the faintest detail in the

universe. In 2017, during the gravitational wave event

GW170817, X-ray emission was captured by

Chandra X-ray Observatory along with the

gravitational wave caused by merging and collision

between two neutron stars. Event GW170817 being a

binary neutron star system, and the discovery of X-

rays with gravitational waves is seen as confirmation

of multi-messenger astronomy, with both

gravitational wave and electromagnetic types of

information, it gives scientists better insight into

events like neutron star collision, such multi-

messenger has never happened before. The author

suspects either a kilonova afterglow or an accretion

disk around the newly formed black hole after the

collision. Kilonova afterglow represents the collision

between two neutron stars, a shock wave releasing

energy and heavier elements. When elements are

released, they interact with the surrounding

environment and produce light across the

electromagnetic spectrum including X-ray. Yet today,

it wasn’t settled on a hypothesis, but one has been

monitoring multi-messenger events like this, specific

to gravitational wave events, other wavelengths of

electromagnetic radiations have been detected (Troja

et al., 2017). Figure 4 shows the telescope capturing

the x-ray emission from event GW170817, Chandra

along with many other telescope’s missions to capture

the fading glow of the blast's expanding debris.

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349

Figure 4: The telescope capturing the x-ray emission from event GW170817 (NASA, 2021).

6 LIMITATIONS AND

PROSPECTS

Currently, one has large amounts of space telescopes

whether in space or on the ground, each observing for

its unique targets and making new scientific

breakthroughs. However, many factors have limited

the efforts in figuring out all the unsolved questions

in the universe. Economical limitations are the most

obvious obstacle right now, to the government and

organizations, telescopes are costly. James Webb

Space Telescope has cost NASA $9.7 billion over 24

years, including development, deployment, etc.

Tremendous costs for space telescopes are inevitable,

such might cause government-owned organizations

to get reduced funding, which is what NASA faces in

2024, and with no choice, some telescopes in

operation such as the Chandra X-ray Observatory

need to be shut down. Same with ground-based

telescopes, including maintenance, telescopes require

a scary amount of funding. Another aspect of

limitation is technological limitation, which is highly

related to economic limitation. Although telescopes

have high resolution and wide FOV instruments that

can detect objects millions of lightyears away, which

was unheard of just a few decades ago, observation

on faint targets can take a ridiculously long period.

Lastly, nature can also be a great obstacle to

telescopes that one can’t deal with, including

atmospheric turbulence for ground-based telescopes

and solar interference on space telescopes.

In the future, new telescopes are still in

development, such as the Nancy Grace Roman Space

Telescope (NGRST) and the European Extremely

Large Telescope (E-ELT). NGRST has a FOV about

100 times bigger than the Hubble space telescope. E-

ELT is a ground-based telescope that has a 39-meter

primary mirror, making it the largest optical/near-

infrared telescope in the world after construction.

New telescopes will provide highly detailed and high-

resolution images that can study the universe better.

As technologies keep improving, the world will

undoubtedly see further and clearer, with

unprecedented discoveries and solved questions.

7 CONCLUSIONS

To sum up, this study has briefly discussed the history

of telescopes and introduced the functions and

categories of telescopes, including methods of

observation. In-depth detail about three telescopes,

their instrument's capability, and recent discoveries.

According to the analysis, the current drawbacks are

discussed and future development trends are clarified.

Overall, this study serves the purpose of a brief

introduction to various kinds of space telescopes,

shedding light on guiding further exploration of

telescopes.

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