No, telescopes can not see through clouds. However there is a myth that a telescope can expose items that would be obscured by cloud cover.
How do astronomers see through clouds?
Astronomers have been mapping the planet since the 1960s using radio waves that are delivered from antennas on Earth or satellites orbiting Venus. The generated photos show surface density, slope, and roughness but not color.
Can a radio telescope see through clouds?
With longer wavelength signals, radio telescopes may operate even in overcast skies, unlike optical telescopes, which can be hindered by bad weather or clouds on Earth.
Radio telescopes must be much larger or have a larger collecting area to achieve the same level of detail and resolution as their optical cousins. This is because light has a much shorter wavelength than radio emissions. This means they do not need to be as precisely shaped as their optical counterparts (but still need to be accurate to around 1 mm in terms of dish shape). The Arecibo telescope, which was featured in the film “Contact,” is the largest radio telescope in the world with a single dish and is situated in Puerto Rico, South America.
Can you see past light pollution with a telescope?
All of Celestron’s telescopes can be used to view the Moon and a few other brilliant planets, even in areas with a lot of light pollution. The Maksutov (MAK) and refractor telescopes from Celestron have longer focal lengths that enable them to achieve great magnification.
What Is The Best Weather To Use Your Telescope?
When it comes to local weather reports, the possibility of rain is frequently of more importance than whether or not the sky will be cloudy. Because of this, it can be difficult to predict if the sky will be too cloudy for an ideal stargazing night, even if it isn’t raining.
The easiest approach to learning about the local weather and determining whether it will suit your stargazing needs is to use services like Clear Outside or Clear Dark Sky. Even though barometric pressure, which is frequently seen in local reports and is an excellent indicator of how clear the sky is, indicates clearer skies than lower pressures, greater barometric pressures do.
There are a few more things to think about. Transparency and what is visible.
The term “transparency” describes how clear the sky is, specifically how free of dust and/or humidity it is. Summer is the worst season for transparency, while winter is the finest.