Talk:2012 National Reconnaissance Office space telescope donation to NASA

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Comments[edit]

"the space agency must still pay for the cost of instruments and electronics for the telescopes". Isn't a telescope an operative "instrument" here? Normal people don't get this. They ask what instruments does the instrument need? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 136.186.248.250 (talk) 23:27, 19 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]

A telescope just collects and focuses light. You need an instrument to then do something with that light e.g. a camera to take an image, or a spectrograph to analyse the wavelengths of the light. Both require an image detector to record the results. It's like someone giving you a digital camera body that only contained a lens, no electronics - potentially useful, but you wouldn't be able to take a photograph with it, more parts are required to make a working device. Modest Genius ^talk 14:56, 22 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]