On a ballflield, the "hot spot" is third base. What if your vision was obstructed and you could not see down the third base line. You would never know what the outcome of the game was because you couldn't see if anyone reached home base and scored. You would miss the most exciting activity in the game. This is what X-ray astronomy is all about. We want to see the "action" - the places where all the activity is happening. Conversely, if we could only see down the third base line, we would never be able to determine the rules of the game or see the events leading up to the action at third base. This is why we need to be able to see all bands of the electromagnetic spectrum equally well - so we can see the entire "game" and know the structure of our universe and how it got to be the way it is.

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Slide 25 of 28