Question

What are the difficulties in using ground-based optical telescopes? How are they overcome?

Answer 1

The difficulties faced in using ground-based telescopes due to which it does not make good quality observations are:

• The intensity of light rays reaching the Earth's surface decreases as some of the light is absorbed by the atmosphere.
• The change in atmospheric pressure and temperature causes the light rays to change their path slightly and thus shake the position of the image.
• We cannot use optical telescopes during the daytime because of the presence of sunlight.
• Even at night, city lights and cloudy weather can cause hindrances in observing the heavenly bodies.

These problems can be overcome as follows:

• To reduce these problems, optical telescopes are situated on top of mountains, in secluded locations.
• To get rid of all the above problems completely, the telescope is placed above the earth’s atmosphere in space.