Related topics: nasa , astronauts , space shuttle atlantis , spacewalk , galaxies
Hubble Space Telescope
hideThe Hubble Space Telescope (HST) is a space telescope that was carried into orbit by the space shuttle in April 1990. It is named after the American astronomer Edwin Hubble. Although not the first space telescope, the Hubble is one of the largest and most versatile, and is well-known as both a vital research tool and a public relations boon for astronomy. The HST is a collaboration between NASA and the European Space Agency, and is one of NASA's Great Observatories, along with the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory, the Chandra X-ray Observatory, and the Spitzer Space Telescope.
Space telescopes were proposed as early as 1923. The Hubble was funded in the 1970s, with a proposed launch in 1983, but the project was beset by technical delays, budget problems, and the Challenger disaster. When finally launched in 1990, scientists found that the main mirror had been ground incorrectly, severely compromising the telescope's capabilities. However, after a servicing mission in 1993, the telescope was restored to its intended quality. Hubble's orbit outside the distortion of Earth's atmosphere allows it to take extremely sharp images with almost no background light. Hubble's Ultra Deep Field image, for instance, is the most detailed visible-light image ever made of the universe's most distant objects. Many Hubble observations have led to breakthroughs in astrophysics, such as accurately determining the rate of expansion of the universe.
The Hubble is the only telescope ever designed to be serviced in space by astronauts. There have been five servicing missions, the last occurring in May 2009. Servicing Mission 1 took place in December 1993 when Hubble's imaging flaw was corrected. Servicing missions 2, 3A, and 3B repaired various sub-systems and replaced many of the observing instruments with more modern and capable versions. However, following the 2003 Space Shuttle Columbia accident, the fifth servicing mission was canceled on safety grounds. After spirited public discussion, NASA reconsidered this decision, and administrator Mike Griffin approved one final Hubble servicing mission. STS-125 was launched in May 2009, and installed two new instruments and made numerous repairs. Assuming testing and calibration of the new equipment goes well, the Hubble should resume routine operation in September 2009.
The latest servicing should allow the telescope to function until at least 2014, when its successor, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), is due to be launched. The JWST will be far superior to Hubble for many astronomical research programs, but will only observe in infrared, so it will complement (not replace) Hubble's ability to observe in the visible and ultraviolet parts of the spectrum.
For more information about Hubble Space Telescope, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
News tagged with hubble space telescope
New Hubble Maps of Pluto Show Surface Changes (w/ Video)
Feb 04, 2010 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- NASA today released the most detailed set of images ever taken of the distant dwarf planet Pluto. The images taken by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope show an icy and dark molasses-colored, mottled ...
Forming the present-day spiral galaxies
Feb 04, 2010 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Using data from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers have created a demographic census of galaxy types and shapes from a time before the Earth and the sun existed, to the present ...
Suspected Asteroid Collision Leaves Odd X-Pattern of Trailing Debris
Feb 02, 2010 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has imaged a mysterious X-shaped debris pattern and trailing streamers of dust that suggest a head-on collision between two asteroids. Astronomers have long thought ...
The Cosmic Distance Scale
Jan 29, 2010 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- In 1908, Harvard astronomer Henrietta Swan Leavitt discovered that a class of stars called Cepheids have brightnesses that vary regularly with periods that are directly related to their intrinsic ...
NASA Reveals New Batch Of Space Program Artifacts
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Jan 20, 2010 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- NASA is inviting eligible education institutions, museums and other organizations to examine and request space program artifacts online. The items represent significant human space flight technologies, processes ...
Hubble Catches End of Star-Making Party in Nearby Dwarf Galaxy
Jan 14, 2010 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Galaxies throughout the universe are ablaze with star birth. But for a nearby, small spiral galaxy, the star-making party is almost over.
Galaxy History Revealed in This Colorful Hubble View (w/ Video)
Jan 06, 2010 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- More than 12 billion years of cosmic history are shown in this unprecedented, panoramic, full-color view of thousands of galaxies in various stages of assembly.
Hubble Reaches the 'Undiscovered Country' of Primeval Galaxies
Jan 05, 2010 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has broken the distance limit for galaxies and uncovered a primordial population of compact and ultra-blue galaxies that have never been seen before.
New Video Reveals Secrets of Webb Telescope's MIRI (w/ Video)
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Dec 29, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- It's going to take infrared eyes to see farther back in time than even the Hubble Space Telescope, and that's what the James Webb Space Telescope's MIRI or Mid-Infrared Instrument detectors ...
Hubble Finds Smallest Kuiper Belt Object Ever Seen
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Dec 16, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has discovered the smallest object ever seen in visible light in the Kuiper Belt, a vast ring of icy debris that is encircling the outer rim of the solar system ...
Hubble's Festive View of a Grand Star-Forming Region (w/ Video)
Dec 15, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Just in time for the holidays: a Hubble Space Telescope picture postcard of hundreds of brilliant blue stars wreathed by warm, glowing clouds. The festive portrait is the most detailed view of the largest ...
Born in beauty: Proplyds in the Orion Nebula (w/ Video)
Dec 14, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- A collection of 30 never-before-released images of embryonic planetary systems in the Orion Nebula are the highlight of the longest single Hubble Space Telescope project ever dedicated to ...
Artificial Intelligence Shuffles Schedules, Cuts Patients' Wait Times
Dec 03, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Some of the same artificial intelligence (AI) underlying NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope is now streamlining patient care at Strong Memorial Hospital, helping radiologists and technologists ...
Newly discovered star one of hottest in Galaxy (w/ Video)
Dec 02, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Astronomers at The University of Manchester's Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics have discovered one of the hottest stars in the Galaxy with a surface temperature of around 200,000 degrees ...
3 Questions: Sara Seager on searching for Earth-like planets
Nov 23, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- MIT planetary scientist Sara Seager has been studying exoplanets — planets circling stars other than the sun — for many years.
