Hello!

A question for the Superman experts:

We are currently working on a documentary about the Hubble Space Telescope (for PBS NOVA). For a section about early ideas about telescopes in space we are also looking for any visual examples from comic books. Are there any early Superman issues from the 1930s to 1960s that include a telescope in space?

Any information would be much appreciated!

Thank you!

@hubble25: You mean an actual telescope that is in space (like the Hubble) or one that's on an alien planet? Pretty sure the orbiting telescope wasn't seen in earlier comics. On an alien planet I'm sure you could find a ton.

Hi there,

That's an interesting question - there were (and still are) ideas of putting a telescope on the moon for example (all so we don't have to deal with Earth's atmosphere which distorts the light). So telescopes on alien planets could be cool. Do you know of any specific examples for telescopes on alien planets?

I've seen a few examples in the past, but not from stories from 50's or 60's. I wasn't even born then, and I've no interest in reading comics from that time period.

But more recently there was a show of telescopes mighty combined with Superman awesome brain capacity. In Action Comics #14 from the New 52, we got to see Superman working together with Neil deGrasse Tyson.

Superman wanted to get an image from his homeworld of Krypton and to do that he asked the help and colaboration of all Earth's astronomers to lend their telescopes, both on Earth and in space. They were to look at a specific point in our galaxy, and all that immense data would be transmited to a single room, where Superman would help by instantaneously processing and calculating all the information so they could get a clear picture. And the moment they were able to see, was Krypton final moments has it blew up.

Hope this helps.