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Why are telescopes located in these positions?

Telescopes are often found high upon mountains when looking upon cities. The Hubble space telescope is located above the earth, looking upon us. Why are telescopes located in these positions? Answer must have something to do with reflection/refraction. Please help. Thanks.

The altitude does mean there is a little less atmosphere to look thru but other factors include light pollution and air pollution, especially particlulates that block and scatter light, and just the variation in the atmosphere. The density of our air does vary due to temperature and humidity so the atmosphere acts as a lens (this is where refraction enters the equation).

They have developed technology that “corrects” the telescope optics for variations created by the atmosphere. This correction is not 100% effective (it helps dramatically but…) so there is still significant advantages for putting a telescope in space. In space, you can observe day and night, there is very little dust that will collect on the mirror (as there is on earth), there is no air pollution, there is no light pollution (except from the sun, distant stars, and black holes which happen to be between you and what you want to look at), and there is no atmosphere to act as a lens.

One note, the Hubble does not look upon us. The Hubble is designed for looking at things a lot farther away than earth. I don’t think the Hubble’s manuvering thrusters could keep the Hubble pointed at a single spot on earth long enough to get a good picture.

Hope this helps

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