Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-8kt4b Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-19T12:57:00.175Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Major Observatories Versus Economy-Class Observatories in Space

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 April 2016

Freeman J. Dyson
Freeman J. Dyson*
Affiliation:
Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, NJ

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Big space-instruments are essential for observing fine details of selected objects. Small space-instruments are essential for scanning large areas of sky, for discovering and cataloguing new objects, and for monitoring variable or transient sources of radiation. If astronomy is to flourish, both types of instrument must be provided. The problem is not to choose between big and small. The problem is to find the optimum mixture of big and small. Various examples from past history and from future plans illustrate the importance of maintaining a variety of different types of instrument.

Type
IV. Relative Merits of Various Observatories
Information
International Astronomical Union Colloquium , Volume 123: Observatories in Earth Orbit and Beyond , 1990 , pp. 399 - 405
Copyright
Copyright © Kluwer 1990

References

Spitzer, , Lyman, Jr.: 1968, Science 161, 225–229 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zwicky, F.: 1969, Discovery, Invention, Research, New York, Macmillan, 91-92, 226 Google Scholar
Zwicky, F.: 1948, in Halley Lecture, “Morphological Astronomy”, ed(s)., Observatory, 68, 121–143 Google Scholar
Baade, W. and Zwicky, F.: 1934, Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. (USA) 20, 259–263 Google Scholar
Baade, W.: 1942, Astrophys. J. 96, 188–198 Google Scholar
Minkowski, R.: 1942, Astrophys. J. 96, 199–213 Google Scholar
Kondo, Y. (Ed.): 1987, Exploring the Universe with the IUE Satellite, Dordrecht, Reidel, 347 Google Scholar