Sunday, 16 March 2014

Is Sahara desert a good place to build radio/optical telescopes?

No, the Sahara isn't a good place to build telescopes.
The Atacama desert is used because it is at high altitude, which means that there is less atmosphere to get in the way. Other telescopes are located on mountaintops for the same reason.
The Sahara is mostly at sea level. It's also very hot, so you get lots of turbulence due to rising air, which distorts the image.
The Sahara is also undesirable for other reasons: no infrastructure, unstable regimes, lots of erosion due to sand storms.

No comments:

Post a Comment