> Compared to that Earth based telescopes seem to have to go through massive efforts to make headline discoveries
That's a function of how the media works. Ground-based telescopes are extremely important for astronomy, and I would even venture to say are involved in most major discoveries. Space telescopes are also extremely useful, but they're also much flashier than ground-based telescopes.
> how would we know about e.g. the acceleration of the universe from an Earth based observatory?
By observing type-Ia supernovae (SNe Ia), for example. Not only is it possible to do this with ground-based telescopes, but ground-based telescopes are the primary way it is done. Most of the SNe Ia observations that went into the discovery of the acceleration of cosmic expansion were done from the ground.
That's a function of how the media works. Ground-based telescopes are extremely important for astronomy, and I would even venture to say are involved in most major discoveries. Space telescopes are also extremely useful, but they're also much flashier than ground-based telescopes.
> how would we know about e.g. the acceleration of the universe from an Earth based observatory?
By observing type-Ia supernovae (SNe Ia), for example. Not only is it possible to do this with ground-based telescopes, but ground-based telescopes are the primary way it is done. Most of the SNe Ia observations that went into the discovery of the acceleration of cosmic expansion were done from the ground.