Reference no: EM133476184

Question: Federal funding agencies must form committees to decide which telescope projects will receive funds for construction. When deciding which projects will be funded, the committees must consider:

that certain wavelengths of light are blocked from reaching Earth's surface by the atmosphere,

how efficiently telescopes work at different wavelengths, and that telescopes in space are much more expensive to construct than Earth-based telescopes.

Using these three criteria, consider each pairing of telescope proposals listed below. For each pair, state which of the two you would choose to fund and explain your reasoning. (For example, for pair A you will choose either Beta or Alpha, for pair B you will choose either Rho or Sigma, and for pair C you will choose either Zeta or Epsilon giving you a total of three chosen projects to discuss in your original post.)

Pair A)

Project Beta: An X-ray wavelength telescope, located near the North Pole, which will be used to examine the Sun.
Project Alpha: An infrared wavelength telescope, placed on a satellite in orbit around Earth, which will be used to view supernovae.
Pair B)

Project Rho: A UV wavelength telescope, placed high atop Mauna Kea in Hawaii at 14,000 ft above sea level, which will be used to look at distant galaxies.

Project Sigma: A visible wavelength telescope, placed on a satellite orbit around Earth, which will be used to observe a pair of binary stars located in the constellation Ursa Major.
Pair C)

Project Zeta: A radio wavelength telescope, placed on the floor of the Mojave Desert, which will be used to detect potential communications from distant civilizations outside our solar system.

Project Epsilon: An infrared wavelength telescope, located in the high-elevation mountains of Chile, which will be used to view newly forming stars (protostars) in the Orion nebula.