Why do telescopes in space see sharper images than telescopes on Earth?

Earth’s atmosphere bends and distorts incoming light, which limits image sharpness for ground-based telescopes. It also absorbs much of the ultraviolet, X-ray, and infrared light from space, preventing those wavelengths from reaching the ground effectively. Space telescopes such as Hubble, launched in 1990, and James Webb, launched in 2021, operate above most or all of the atmosphere. That gives them a much clearer and more complete view of the universe. They can also observe wavelengths that are blocked or weakened on Earth.