Ultraviolet Astronomy

Ultraviolet light has wavelengths longer than X rays, but shorter than visible light. Ultraviolet telescopes are similar to visible-light telescopes in the way they gather light, but the atmosphere blocks most ultraviolet radiation. Most ultraviolet observations, therefore, must also take place in space. Most of the instruments on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) are sensitive to ultraviolet radiation (see Ultraviolet Astronomy). Humans cannot see ultraviolet radiation, but astronomers can create visual images from ultraviolet light by assigning particular colors or shades to different intensities of radiation.