. 24/7 Space News .
STELLAR CHEMISTRY
Telescope set to unravel cosmic mysteries
by Staff Writers
Beijing (XNA) May 17, 2022

During its normal observations, the telescope will fly independently in the same orbit as China's space station, but at a great distance apart. The in-orbit construction of the space station is expected to be completed this year.

The Chinese Survey Space Telescope, also known as the Chinese Space Station Telescope or the Xuntian Space Telescope, is a space-based optical observatory that will allow astronomers to conduct surveys by capturing a general map or images of the sky.

The CSST is a bus-sized facility, whose length is equal to that of a three-story building. Although it has an aperture of 2 meters, a little smaller than the Hubble Space Telescope, its field of view is 350 times larger than Hubble's, according to Liu Jifeng, deputy director at the National Astronomical Observatories of China.

Li Ran, a project scientist at the CSST Scientific Data Reduction System, said, "The field of view is the area of the sky a telescope can see at one time."

Hubble's field of view is approximately 1 percent of the size of a fingernail at an arm's length, thereby the telescope observed only a tiny fraction of the sky, Li added.

The CSST, which is still under construction, has a three-mirror anastigmat design that helps it achieve superior image quality within a large field of view, according to the researchers.

Moreover, it is a Cook-type, off-axis telescope without obstruction that can, in principle, achieve higher precision in photometry, position and shape measurements when properly sampled.

"It has an advantage for survey observations since it can scan a large part of the universe fairly quickly," said Zhan Hu, a project scientist at the CSST Optical Facility.

Special equipment
The telescope will be equipped with five instruments, including a survey camera. The main focal plane of the camera is equipped with 30 81-mega-pixel detectors that will take images and spectra of roughly 17,500 square degrees of the median-to-high galactic latitude and median-to-high ecliptic latitude sky in multiple bands, the researchers said.

Four other instruments mounted on the CSST have been designed to observe individual objects or small fields, such as mapping star-forming regions of the Milky Way, obtaining instantaneous colors of fast-varying objects such as comets and spinning asteroids, studying the coevolution of supermassive black holes and galaxies and star formation in the nearby part of the universe, and direct imaging of exoplanets in the visible range.

The CSST is likely to be the largest space telescope for astronomy in the near-ultraviolet and visible range in the decade before 2035, Zhan said.

To explain the CSST's capabilities, Li used the analogy of photographing a flock of sheep.

"Hubble may see a sheep, but the CSST sees thousands, all at the same resolution," he said.

Shared orbit
During its normal observations, the telescope will fly independently in the same orbit as China's space station, but at a great distance apart. The in-orbit construction of the space station is expected to be completed this year.

Zhan said the telescope was initially designed to be mounted on the space station, but there would have been disadvantages such as vibration, potential contamination, stray light and line-of-sight obstruction caused by the space station's proximity.

As a result, a new design was adopted, putting the telescope in the orbit of the space station but keeping them far from each other during normal operations.

However, the CSST will dock with the space station for refueling and servicing-either as scheduled or whenever necessary-making its maintenance more affordable than Hubble.

From 1993 to 2009, NASA launched space shuttles on five servicing missions for Hubble to undertake repairs, replace parts and install new instruments.

The CSST, which is expected to start scientific operations in 2024, has a nominal mission life of 10 years, but in principle, that could be extended.

The telescope will take pictures of 40 percent of the sky and transmit massive amounts of data back to Earth, which scientists across the world will be able to study, Li said, adding that its main objective is to address the most basic questions about the universe.

It will observe well over 1 billion galaxies and measure their positions, shapes and brightness, which may help explain how those galaxies evolved.

"We know that our universe is expanding with an acceleration, and we can calculate its current expansion rate, but it's still unknown what causes the acceleration," Li said. "CSST observations may offer answers and unveil new physics."

The telescope will also be able to help determine the upper limit of neutrino mass and shed light on the mysterious phenomena of dark matter and dark energy. They are believed to account for the majority of the universe's mass-energy content.

Further studies
The versatile telescope will undertake many more intriguing studies, such as drawing a galactic dust map of the Milky Way, observing how supermassive black holes are gobbling up surrounding materials, exploring exoplanets and discovering unusual new celestial bodies.

"The orbital period of Uranus is more than 80 years. Hubble has made observations for many years. The CSST could continue the work to examine how Uranus moves in one complete period," Li said.

"The telescope can bring China's research in optical astronomy to the forefront of the world and help cultivate world-class Chinese scientists. It can also take breathtaking visible pictures, allowing the public to directly feel and understand the universe."

Source: Xinhua News Agency


Related Links
Xuntian
Stellar Chemistry, The Universe And All Within It


Thanks for being there;
We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain.

With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords.

Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year.

If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter
$5+ Billed Monthly


paypal only
SpaceDaily Contributor
$5 Billed Once


credit card or paypal


STELLAR CHEMISTRY
MIRI's sharper view hints at new possibilities for science
Paris (ESA) May 10, 2022
The James Webb Space Telescope is aligned across all four of its science instruments, as seen in a previous engineering image showing the observatory's full field of view. Now, we take a closer look at that same image, focusing on Webb's coldest instrument: the Mid-Infrared Instrument, or MIRI. The MIRI test image (at 7.7 microns) shows part of the Large Magellanic Cloud. This small satellite galaxy of the Milky Way provided a dense star field to test Webb's performance. Here, a close-up of ... read more

Comment using your Disqus, Facebook, Google or Twitter login.



Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle

STELLAR CHEMISTRY
Engineers investigating Voyager 1 telemetry data

What you need to know about NASA's Boeing Orbital Flight Test-2

Blue Origin delays next flight over technical issues

Boeing's Starliner spaceship docks with ISS in high-stakes test mission

STELLAR CHEMISTRY
Dawn Aerospace wins Blue Canyon's X-SAT Saturn-Class propulsion business

ISRO tests large human rated solid rocket booster for the Gaganyaan program

Gilmour Space completes full duration test fire of new Phoenix rocket engine

Boeing's troubled Starliner launches for ISS in key test

STELLAR CHEMISTRY
Everyone wants a piece of this Pie - Sols 3478-3479

Physicists explain how type of aurora on Mars is formed

Mars' emitted energy and seasonal energy imbalance

China's Zhurong rover switches to dormant mode in severe Martian dust storm

STELLAR CHEMISTRY
Tianwen-1 mission marks first year on Mars

New cargo spacecraft being built

The beginning of a multi-spacecraft exploration in Martian space by China, the US and Europe

China's cargo craft docks with space station combination

STELLAR CHEMISTRY
ESA spurs investment in space entrepreneurs

Australian Uni and SSC sign MoU to strengthen space capabilities in Australia and Sweden

Spire Global to launch five satellites on SpaceX Transporter-5 Mission

Why the Space-as-a-Service Business Models are Taking the Space Sector by Storm

STELLAR CHEMISTRY
The European Innovation Council supports E.T. PACK-Fly, a project to mitigate space debris

Ultracold Bubbles on Space Station Open New Avenues of Quantum Research

The missing piece to faster, cheaper and more accurate 3D mapping

Preparation for LizzieSat-1 Mission continues as NASA customer completes important milestone

STELLAR CHEMISTRY
The search for how life on Earth transformed from simple to complex

Seeing through the fog-pinpointing young stars and their protoplanetary disks

The origin of life: A paradigm shift

Researchers reveal the origin story for carbon-12, a building block for life

STELLAR CHEMISTRY
Traveling to the centre of planet Uranus

Juno captures moon shadow on Jupiter

Greenland Ice, Jupiter Moon Share Similar Feature

Search for life on Jupiter moon Europa bolstered by new study









The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2024 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. All articles labeled "by Staff Writers" include reports supplied to Space Media Network by industry news wires, PR agencies, corporate press officers and the like. Such articles are individually curated and edited by Space Media Network staff on the basis of the report's information value to our industry and professional readership. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Statement Our advertisers use various cookies and the like to deliver the best ad banner available at one time. All network advertising suppliers have GDPR policies (Legitimate Interest) that conform with EU regulations for data collection. By using our websites you consent to cookie based advertising. If you do not agree with this then you must stop using the websites from May 25, 2018. Privacy Statement. Additional information can be found here at About Us.