Chinese Space Telescope 'Xuntian' Designed To Outdo NASA Hubble Telescope, Astronomers Claim

The Chinese Space Telescope "Xuntian" was designed to perform better than NASA's Hubble Telescope. It is scheduled to deploy in 2024.

Chinese Space Telescope "Xuntian"

Xuntian, which is also known as the Chinese Survey Space Telescope or Chinese Space Station Telescope (CSST), literally translates to "survey of the heavens" or "surveying the sky." It is roughly the size of the bus and hosts a primary mirror that has a diameter of two meters.

The ultraviolet-optical space telescope is designed to orbit alongside the Tiangong space station. While its duties in space could be extended, it is meant to serve a nominal mission spanning 10 years.

Xuntian was developed to perform better than the powerful Hubble Space Telescope of NASA. The huge orbiting facility will be orbiting close to the space station of NASA for it to be occasionally overhauled by spacewalkers.

Deputy director Lin Xiqiang from China Manned Space Agency explains that this observatory could lead to breakthroughs in dark energy, dark matter, cosmology, the Milky Way Galaxy, other galaxies, star formation, and exoplanets.

Lin adds that the telescope will cover deep-field survey observations with an area comprising 17,500 square degrees. Having a 2.5 billion pixel camera on board, Xuntian will also help observe various kinds of cosmic bodies.

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Will Xuntian Really Be Better Than Hubble?

Chinese astronomers have claimed that the optical capabilities of Xuntian will be better than the Hubble. The latter is capable of capturing light in the visible, near-infrared, and ultraviolet ranges.

Xuntian was developed to capture panoramic views of the universe in high-definition. It will do so with spatial resolution that may be at par with Hubble's. However, the field of view of Xuntian is 300 times larger compared to NASA's Hubble. A telescope's field of review refers to the areas of the sky that the device can observe at the same time.

However, there are some scientists in the community who doubt the features of Xuntian. Based on the available data, though Xuntian will have a wider field of view than Hubble, it will have a smaller mirror. This would lead to reduced spatial resolution and collecting area.

Xuntian's spectral resolution is reportedly lower compared to that of Hubble's. Also, it does not have the far-ultraviolet range.

Ultimately, whether Xuntian will truly outperform Hubble is yet to be seen. Nevertheless, the scientific community is still looking forward to how Xuntian will contribute to cosmology and astronomy.

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