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Nuclei and explosions: solution and notes

Pointing a space telescope

A space telescope’s pointing is accurate to a few millionths of a degree, and it must remain steady for long periods. Peter Main explains how this is achieved

Hubble image of the Messier 100 spiral galaxy at a distance of 55 million light years

The terms in bold link to topics in the AQA, Edexcel, OCR, WJEC and CCEA A-level specifications, as well as the IB, Pre-U and SQA exam specifications.

The Hubble Space Telescope senses its orientation with a magnetic compass and a star map, and uses the conservation of angular momentum to control its pointing with high precision.

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Previous

Clues

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Nuclei and explosions: solution and notes

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