What advantage would a telescope on the Moon or Mars have over one on the Earth?

Earth's surface is a crappy place because of its atmosphere. The Moon is far better and cheaper to get to than Mars, and offers a firm fixed base for long duration exposures. The Hubble Space Telescope, however, does a fine job just as good as a lunar observatory in fact. Putting a telescope on Mars, in comparison to one in Earth orbit or on the Moon, simply does not gain you very much. At infrared wavelengths, in fact, you really want to be outside the asteroid belt because of all the dust from the 'zodiacal belt' which extends out to 3 Astronomical Units from the Sun.


Copyright 1997 Dr. Sten Odenwald
Return to Ask the Astronomer.