A wide variety of missions of exploration seek to explain the Universe's unanswered questions. Many are exceedingly expensive and are funded by the taxpayers. However, amateurs with relatively small telescopes or binoculars still make important contributions to astronomy.
This section features some of the most famous attempts to explore the night sky.
Image: Astronauts repair the Hubble Space Telescope from the space shuttle in 1993 (credit: NASA)
Australian Astronomical Observatory
The AAO hunts exoplanets.
Chandra X-ray Observatory
This space telescope measures the Universe's high energy objects.
Compton Gamma Ray Observatory
Compton tracks gamma ray bursts from orbit.
Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE)
A satellite finds important evidence supporting the Big Bang.
Herschel Space Observatory
Herschel is the largest telescope ever launched into space.
Holmdel Horn Antenna
This device was used to discover the cosmic microwave background radiation.
Hubble Space Telescope
This famous telescope makes beautiful images of the Universe.
Jodrell Bank Observatory
This facility is home to one of the world's largest radio telescopes.
Kepler Mission
A mission hunts for exoplanets similar to the Earth.
Kitt Peak National Observatory
Kitt Peak is the national observatory of the United States.
Large Hadron Collider (LHC)
The LHC investigates the first moments after the Big Bang.
Leviathan of Parsonstown
19th century astronomers use a great telescope to study spiral galaxies.
Mount Wilson Observatory
Key discoveries have been made here.
Planck mission
This satellite captured a stunning image of light from the early Universe.
Sloan Digital Sky Survey
This project produces 3D maps of the Universe.
Spitzer Space Telescope
Spitzer studies the infrared Universe.
Swift mission
Swift aims to discover more about gamma ray bursts.
Telescopes
Astronomy's most important tool continues to evolve.
The Keck Observatory
There are twin telescopes on Mauna Kea, Hawaii.
UK Dark Matter Collaboration
An underground lab is part of the dark matter search.
UKIRT
UKIRT observes the infrared sky.
Very Large Telescope (VLT)
This powerful telescope is located in Chile.
William Herschel Telescope
This European telescope is located on La Palma.
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