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  • RESEARCH HIGHLIGHT

Astronomy’s carbon footprint is sky-high

Among the most intensive sources are the Hubble Space Telescope and, on Earth, the Very Large Telescope.
The Very Large Telescope operated by the European Southern Observatory at Paranal, Antofagasta Region, Chile.

The Very Large Telescope on Cerro Paranal, Chile, has a corresponding very large carbon footprint. Credit: Insights/Universal Images Group via Getty

The first rough estimate of astronomy’s total impact on Earth’s climate suggests that, between them, space missions and ground-based observatories emit greenhouse gases equivalent to more than one million tonnes of carbon dioxide each year1.

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Nature 603, 768 (2022)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-00824-x

References

  1. Knödlseder, J. et al. Nature Astron. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-022-01612-3 (2022).

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