Question

Which sentence explains why optical land telescopes are not able to take images as clear as those taken by the Hubble Space Telescope?
Hubble takes pictures of planets, stars, and galaxies. The mixture of gases that surround a planet is called its atmosphere. Earth’s atmosphere changes and blocks some of the light that comes from space. Hubble orbits high above Earth and its atmosphere. So, Hubble can see space more clearly than telescopes on Earth can. Hubble is not the kind of telescope that you look through with your eye. Hubble uses a digital camera to take pictures. Then, Hubble uses radio waves to send the pictures through the air back to Earth.

Answer 1

Sorry I'm a good year or so late, but its "Earth’s atmosphere changes and blocks some of the light that comes from space." !

Answer 2

he Hubble Space Telescope has beamed hundreds of thousands of images back to Earth over the past two decades. One might call it the most skilled paparazzo, snapping countless images of the stars.

Thanks to these images, scientists have been able to determine the age of the universe and shed light on the existence of dark energy. These extraordinary advancements have been possible because the Hubble images surpass those taken by Earth-based telescopes.

While ground-based observatories are usually located in highly elevated areas with minimal light pollution, they must contend with atmospheric turbulence, which limits the sharpness of images taken from this vantage point. (The effects of atmospheric turbulence are clear to anyone looking at the stars ? this is why they appear to twinkle.)

 

In space, however, telescopes are able to get a clearer shot of everything from exploding stars to other galaxies.

Another disadvantage for ground-based telescopes is that the Earth's atmosphere absorbs much of the infrared and ultraviolet light that passes through it. Space telescopes can detect these waves.

Newer ground-based telescopes are using technological advances such as adaptive optics to try to correct or limit atmospheric distortion, but there's no way to see the wavelengths that the atmosphere blocks from reaching Earth, according to the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI), which manages the Hubble research program.

One downside to space telescopes like the Hubble is that they are extremely difficult to maintain and upgrade. The Hubble is the first telescope specifically designed to be repaired in space by astronauts, while other space telescopes cannot be serviced at all.

NASA scientists estimate that the telescope will only be able to keep taking pictures for five more years.