The instruments are not like conventional telescopes.
The disadvantage of the system is that controlling and aiming a hexapod-mounted telescope is much more complex than with conventional telescope mounts.
So far, Hubble has been able to discern individual stars that exist in clusters, an achievement that has alluded conventional telescopes.
Visible light, which conventional optical telescopes magnify, tells only a small part of the cosmic story.
There was a telescope: big, but conventional.
For conventional telescopes on Earth, the diffraction limit is not relevant for telescopes bigger than about 10 cm.
Liquid mirrors can be a low cost alternative to conventional large telescopes.
This includes the use of infrared filters on conventional telescopes, and also the use of radio telescopes.
It deploys a long baseline to measure angles much smaller than can be resolved with a conventional telescope.
Although earlier measurements of planetary orbits were made using conventional telescopes, more accurate measurements are now made with radar.