Why is the Hubble Space Telescope important to modern astronomy?

Since the Hubble Telescope is situated outside of Earth's atmosphere, it is able to solve many of the issues that terrestrial telescopes encounter.

First, light is distorted by the Earth's atmosphere. This can be seen in a red sunset or a blue sky, where the atmosphere has absorbed more of some wavelengths of light than others, leaving only the remaining wavelengths that can be seen with your eyes or through a telescope when you're trying to observe the sky.

Second, most of the ultra-violet (UV) portion of the electromagnetic spectrum is absorbed by the Earth's atmosphere, which is beneficial to humans because intense UV light can damage our bodies, but it also keeps terrestrial telescopes from gathering much of the data that this type of light contains.

Thirdly, because Hubble is located far above this light pollution, it is able to detect much fainter (lower intensity) light signals. Artificial light, such as streetlights, can overwhelm the very faint light signals that are being observed from the skies.

I'm sure there are other benefits that Hubble has over ground-based telescopes; perhaps more people who have contributed can elaborate.

Rory.

The Hubble Space Telescope has contributed to important discoveries, expanded our understanding of the universe, and provided invaluable data for numerous scientific studies. It is significant because it offers high-resolution images that allow astronomers to study distant galaxies, stars, and other celestial bodies with unprecedented clarity.