In celebration of Global Astronomy Month – GAM2019, OnePeopleOneSky – we’re taking you on a galactic journey of the world’s biggest, most advanced telescopes on land and in space, in which our Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) teams are playing a significant role. It’s the low down on STFC’s contribution to world class astronomy – the technical innovations, the research and how we share new knowledge to inspire and capture the imagination of people both young and not so young.Astronomers learning about the Universe need big and powerful telescopes to see deep into space – to observe regions never seen before – to reveal the secrets of how the Universe has evolved, and tell us why it is the way it is today. They also need telescopes that capture different parts of the electromagnetic spectrum, which comprises radio, microwave, infrared, visible, UV, x-ray and gamma ray. Using just one part of the spectrum would exclude large parts of the information available to us – rather like watching the 3D, high definition version of Avatar on an old black-and-white television. With the sound off.