Date: 4/02/2017 09:59:31
From: mollwollfumble
ID: 1020260
Subject: Zebra, an old NASA proposal

https://m.phys.org/news/2011-12-nasa-telescope-outer-solar.html

ZEBRA, the Zodiacal dust, Extragalactic Background and Reionization Apparatus.

Light pollution in our inner solar system, from both the nearby glow of the Sun and the hazy zodiacal glow from dust ground up in the asteroid belt, has long stymied cosmologists looking for a clearer take on the early Universe. But a team at NASA, JPL and Caltech has been looking into the possibility of hitching an optical telescope to a mission to the outer solar system.

So. Send a space telescope out past the asteroid belt, past Jupiter, to get a much clearer view of open space and the early universe. The zodiacal glow has two components, in the visible from reflected sunlight and in the thermal infrared. Looking at the thermal infrared from the big bang without the heat from space dust in the way would be be a really worthwhile project.

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