The MOST for the least

摘要

Canada's first space telescope is about the size of a large suitcase. Despite its diminutive size, it performs science the Hubble Space Telescope and large telescopes on the ground struggle to do - looking inside stars to see how they work. It is also studying the atmospheres of extrasolar planets. Both studies are done by measuring tiny changes in brightness. Innovative technologies allow the spacecraft to point and track its 15 cm telescope 4000 times more accurately than any previous microsatellite, vital to accomplishing its mission of locking onto its targets for weeks at a time. Their budgets reflect their sizes. Hubble cost around $2 billion dollars (US) while Canada's was $10 million (Canadian). In homage to the project's American big brother, while reflecting traditional Canadian modesty, project scientists dubbed the spacecraft, officially named Microvariability and Oscillations in STars [MOST], "The Humble Space Telescope".