Federal fundingagencies must form committees to decide which telescope projectswill receive funds for construction. When deciding whic projectswil be funded, the committees must consider:
that certain wavelengths of light are blocked from reachingEarth's surface by the atmosphere,
how efficiently telescopes work at different wavlengths, and
that telescopes in space are much more expensive to constructthan Earth-based telescopes.
Using these threecriteria, consider each pairing of telescope proposals listedbelow. For each pair, state which of the two you would choose tofund and explain your reasoning.
PairA)
ProjectBeta:Â Â An X-ray wavelength telescope, locatednear the North Pole, which will be used to examine the Sun.
ProjectAlpha: An infrared wavelength telescope, placed on asatellite in orbit around Earth, which will be used to viewsupernovae.
PairB)
ProjectRho: A UV wavelength telescope, placed high atop Mauna Keain Hawaii at 14,000 ft above sea level, which will be used to lookat distant galaxies.
ProjectSigma: A visible wavelength telescope, placed on asatellite orbit around Earth, which will be used to observe a pairof binary stars located in the constellation Ursa Major.
PairC)
ProjectZeta:Â Â A radio wavelength telescope, placed onthe floor of the Mojave Desert, which will be used to detectpotential communications from distant civilizations outside oursolar system.
ProjectEpsilon:Â Â An infrared wavelength telescope,located in the high-elevation mountains of Chile, which will beused to view newly forming stars (protostars) in the Orionnebula.
