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from the my-sights-adjusted-and-my-telescope-aimed dept.
Distant galaxies, dark matter, dark energy and the origin and evolution of the universe itself are some of the many scientific goals of China's newly announced space telescope. If all goes according to plan, the China Space Station Telescope (CSST) will blast off atop a Long March 5B rocket sometime in late 2023. Once in a safe orbit, CSST should begin observations in 2024. Judging by these research topics, it looks like the Chinese Academy of Sciences is throwing down an impressive scientific gauntlet for itself and its astronomers.
Given the potential scientific rewards, it's not surprising that China is joining the "big space telescope club." It's also a source of national pride, especially if they can "out-Hubble Hubble." For example, once CSST is operational, Chinese scientists hope to survey the sky and observe more than 1 billion galaxies. Their instruments should let them get highly precise measurements of galaxy shapes, positions and brightness. They'll use the telescope to go after exoplanets, star birth regions, and other distant objects, gathering incredible amounts of high-resolution data.
[Also Covered By]: Universe Today
[Source]: Chinese Academy of Sciences
[Presentation]: Chinese Survey Space Telescope Technical Presentation (2021) (PDF)
(Score: 5, Insightful) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday May 11 2022, @07:40PM (3 children)
The "big astronomy" wonks are already lamenting the demise of Hubble - and when Hubble is gone it won't just be 32 year old tech, it will be a big gap in the current observation capabilities.
JWST isn't "better than Hubble" so much as it is different. There are many things that Hubble can still do better than any other instrument in existence, including JWST. If CSST can replace even some of those lost Hubble capabilities, that will be more than a national pride project, that will be contributing new meaningful data to the continually advancing science of astronomy.
In 32 years Hubble has only observed an infinitesimal sliver of space-time. By comparison, we've seen more of the deep ocean floor than Hubble has observed of all the potentially interesting features and events out there.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 11 2022, @08:18PM
It is apples/oranges with Hubble/JWST because they are designed primarily for different wavelength ranges. One could be a stickler and say that JWST can "out Hubble" Hubble on some narrow wavelength bands where they overlap, but then you'd have to define what "out Hubbling" means because Hubble has 32 years of observations to catch up on.
And one should keep in mind that we've only seen a very small amount of the deep ocean floor at that.
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Thursday May 12 2022, @03:07PM (1 child)
You're assuming the science will be available to all. Assumption not guaranteed when dealing with China. China has a mentality of what's yours is mine and what's mine is mine.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Thursday May 12 2022, @04:55PM
Time will tell. Russia did an unbelievable good job of cooperation in space, up until last week.
🌻🌻 [google.com]