How do astronomers use space-based telescopes? Procedures for operating satellite telescopes are somewhat different from traditional ground-based telescope observing runs. Telescopes orbiting in space are operated remotely from control stations on the ground, where specially trained staff point the telescope at the specific targets requested by the astronomers. This "queue-based" observing makes efficient use of the telescope's time -- several different projects can be done in a single day. As a result, many observatories have started using this approach for ground-based telescopes as well, such as the Hobby-Eberly Telescope at McDonald Observatory.
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