Difficulty: Challenger (Level 2)
Have you ever looked at the sky and wondered why some stars look blurry? That is because Earth’s atmosphere bends and blocks some of the light from space.
To get a clearer view of the universe, scientists built space telescopes that orbit above our atmosphere. Two famous ones are the Hubble Space Telescope and the James Webb Space Telescope. These space telescopes changed our understanding of the universe.
How Hubble helps us observe
The Hubble Space Telescope was launched in 1990. It orbits about 540km above Earth, taking sharp pictures of stars, galaxies and colourful clouds of gas called nebulae.
Before Hubble, astronomers studied the universe using telescopes on the ground and long-exposure astrophotography. But Earth’s atmosphere and urban light pollution limited how clearly scientists could study the night sky.
Hubble can see much farther than the human eye. It can also detect invisible light, like ultraviolet and near-infrared wavelengths. This helps scientists learn how stars are born, how galaxies form and how the universe changes over time.
One example is the stunning photograph, Pillars of Creation, taken by Hubble. It shows a small part of a space cloud called the Eagle Nebula, where new stars are created.
Discoveries from James Webb
The James Webb Space Telescope has a larger mirror and can see infrared light. Because of this, it can look much deeper into space than Hubble could.
This leap in technology shows how upgrading tools allows scientists to see the world in a whole new way. How you look at a problem changes what you discover.
