Glossary term: Infrared Telescope
Description: An infrared telescope observes infrared light and is used for infrared astronomy. Infrared telescopes can be situated on the ground or in space. Observatories situated on Earth are limited in what they can observe by atmospheric absorption and infrared radiation emitted by the Earth's atmosphere, the telescope itself, and its surroundings. Space infrared telescopes do not need to deal with atmospheric absorption or infrared radiation from their immediate surroundings and can be shielded from the Sun and cooled, reducing the infrared radiation emitted by the telescope.
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Term and definition status: This term and its definition have been approved by a research astronomer and a teacher
The OAE Multilingual Glossary is a project of the IAU Office of Astronomy for Education (OAE) in collaboration with the IAU Office of Astronomy Outreach (OAO). The terms and definitions were chosen, written and reviewed by a collective effort from the OAE, the OAE Centers and Nodes, the OAE National Astronomy Education Coordinators (NAECs) and other volunteers. You can find a full list of credits here. All glossary terms and their definitions are released under a Creative Commons CC BY-4.0 license and should be credited to "IAU OAE".
