Why should we make the moon the new home of telescopes?

This article focuses on the question of "why should the moon become the new home of telescopes", introducing the advantages of space telescopes compared to ground-based telescopes, as well as the control difficulties and interference from Earth's obstruction faced in the construction of large space telescopes. It explains that the moon, with multiple advantages such as no atmospheric interference, low gravity, weak geological activity, and the ability to expose observations of distant and faint objects for longer periods of time, is suitable as a new location for telescope construction.

Why should we make the moon the new home of telescopes?

Space telescopes have advantages that ground-based telescopes cannot match: there is no atmospheric absorption and scattering of various electromagnetic waves, and no atmospheric disturbances. However, building a large space telescope is not an easy task. Setting up a telescope in space is very difficult due to the weightless environment. Another problem comes from Earth. Currently, most space telescopes do not have very high orbits, and Earth's obstruction and interference have a significant impact on the observation quality and efficiency of telescopes.

If there were a landmass without an atmosphere where we could build a large telescope, that would be perfect. That landmass is our Moon. There is no air on the Moon, so there is no wind, and astronomical observations will not be disturbed. Telescopes built on the Moon are called "lunar-based telescopes". The gravity of the Moon is only one-sixth of that of the Earth, so engineering construction will be much easier on the Moon than on Earth. Geological activity on the Moon is minimal. Compared with earthquakes, the intensity of moonquakes is only one hundredth of that of earthquakes, and human activities have no impact on them at all. Most importantly, the Moon has long nights! The Moon's rotation period and orbital period are the same, lasting one month, which means there will be half a month of darkness. In addition, since there is no atmosphere on the Moon, the sky is dark even during the day. This allows us to take ultra-long exposure photos and observe more distant and faint celestial objects.