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.
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News tagged with hubble space telescope
Rebirth of an icon: Hubble's first images since Servicing Mission 4
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Sep 09, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Astronomers today declared the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope a fully rejuvenated observatory ready for a new decade of exploration, with the release of observations from four of its six ...
Astronomers find most crowded collision of galaxy clusters
Apr 16, 2009 |
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The most crowded collision of galaxy clusters has been identified by combining information from three different telescopes. This result gives scientists a chance to learn what happens when some of the largest ...
Refined Hubble Constant narrows explanations for dark energy
May 07, 2009 |
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Whatever dark energy is, explanations for it have less wiggle room following a Hubble Space Telescope observation that has refined the measurement of the universe's present expansion rate to a precision where ...
Galaxy Cores to Crash in a Few Million Years
Mar 16, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- A new image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope offers a rare view of an imminent collision between the cores of two merging galaxies, each powered by a black hole with millions of times the ...
Study of first high-resolution images of Pallas confirms asteroid is actually a protoplanet
Oct 12, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Britney E. Schmidt, a UCLA doctoral student in the department of Earth and space sciences, wasn't sure what she'd glean from images of the asteroid Pallas taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. ...
Hubble Witnesses Spectacular Flaring in Gas Jet from M87's Black Hole
Apr 14, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- A flare-up in a jet of matter blasting from a monster black hole is giving astronomers an incredible light show.
A 3-D view of remote galaxies
Mar 10, 2009 |
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For decades, distant galaxies that emitted their light six billion years ago were no more than small specks of light on the sky. With the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope in the early 1990s, astronomers ...
Hubble: a time machine that revolutionized astronomy
May 10, 2009 |
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The Hubble space telescope, the object of NASA's fifth and last servicing mission next week, is a veritable time machine that has revolutionized humankind's vision and comprehension of the universe.
Moon crash: Public yawns, scientists celebrate
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Oct 10, 2009 |
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(AP) -- NASA's great lunar fireworks finale fizzled. After gearing up for the space agency's much-hyped mission to hurl two spacecraft into the moon, the public turned away from the sky Friday anything but ...
Astronomers do it Again: Find Organic Molecules Around Gas Planet (w/ Video)
Oct 20, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Peering far beyond our solar system, NASA researchers have detected the basic chemistry for life in a second hot gas planet, advancing astronomers toward the goal of being able to characterize ...
Surprise Collision on Jupiter Captured by Gemini Telescope
Jul 23, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Jupiter is sporting a glowing bruise after getting unexpectedly whacked by a small solar system object, according to astronomers using the Gemini North telescope on Mauna Kea in Hawai'i. A ...
Star Light, Star Bright, Its Explanation is Out of Sight
Jan 06, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- A mysterious flash of light from somewhere near or far in the universe is still keeping astronomers in the dark long after it was first detected by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope in 2006. It ...
Black Holes Go 'Mano a Mano'
Oct 06, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Two black holes in galaxy NGC 6240 are only 3,000 light years apart -- and getting closer.
NGC 4710 galaxy: Baffling boxy bulge (w/ Video)
Nov 18, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Just as many people are surprised to find themselves packing on unexplained weight around the middle, astronomers find the evolution of bulges in the centres of spiral galaxies puzzling. A ...
Hubble Finds Stars That 'Go Ballistic'
Jan 07, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Even some stars go ballistic, racing through interstellar space like bullets and tearing through clouds of gas.
