Encyclopedia of Space and Astronomy

The Encyclopedia of Space and Astronomy introduces the exciting relationship between modern astronomy and space technology. The book also examines the technical, social, and philosophical influences this important combination of science and technology exerts on our global civilization. With the start of the space age in 1957, scientists gained the ability to place sophisticated observatories in outer space. Since such orbiting astronomical facilities operate above the masking limitations imposed by our planet’s atmosphere, they can collect scientific data in regions of the electromagnetic spectrum previously unavailable to astronomers who could only look at the heavens from the surface of Earth.