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History of Hubble
By NEESHA HOSEIN
Since 1990, The Hubble Space Telescope has dazzled the human eye with images far beyond its natural ability, reaching distant galaxies, broadening the scientific scope and unraveling the deepest and darkest secrets of outer space.
From around the 18th century, telescopes grew in size and capability, built and restructured worldwide by prominent researchers of the universe who believed that space consisted of a mixture of scattered stars and gases in a sole galaxy, the Milky Way.
In 1918, American Astronomer Edwin Hubble, after whom the Hubble Space Telescope is named, took a step beyond that one-galaxy notion.
Hubble measured the distances and velocities of galaxies and discovered the expanding universe, containing billions of other galaxies, through a 100-inch Hooker Telescope he used at Mt. Wilson Observatory in Pasadena, California.
Throughout history it was every astronomers dream to get exclusive images from space, testing method after method and vigorously enhancing high-tech instruments to fine tune images.
The Earth’s atmosphere, armed with its dynamic protective layers, restricts even the strongest telescopes from obtaining a clear image of extraterrestrial objects.
The Space program has had its share of financial let-downs and the idea of having an orbiting telescope that could be serviced during orbit, as opposed to bringing it back to earth for upkeep, meant cost-efficiency while conveniently maintaining this new modern marvel.
HST was ready for launch in 1985, but after the 1986 Challenger disaster, NASA grounded it’s Space Shuttle Fleet for two years.
During those two years HST was given enhancements as technological advances in computer science and solar cell technology flourished in the late 80s.
By the time HST launched it was better than ever and strong enough to withstand passing through the fierceness of Earth’s atmosphere.
On April 24, 1990, Space Shuttle Discovery escorted the 24,500 pound telescope to the outer limits and the next day it was released into space to orbit the Earth and capture history’s most exotic images of the cosmos for the next 17 years.
Since its launch, HST has had 4 servicing missions, the last one being in 2002, making replacements, repairs and performing necessary upkeep.
NASA Administrator Michael Griffin announced plans for a fifth servicing mission during a meeting with at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., the agency center responsible for managing HST.
NASA plans to keep HST in operation til 2013. On this new mission, astronauts will install two new instruments, the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph and the Wide Field Camera 3.
Each instrument contains advanced technology sensors updating HST’s capabilities, and improvement factors of 10X-70X are expected in certain key performance areas, as stated in NASA documents.
Unfortunately, the new servicing mission has been delayed with no official launch date announced, because of a significant HST anomaly that occurred this weekend affecting the storage and transmittal of science data to Earth, reported in a press release.
From NASA.gov:
The telescope's 17 years' worth of observations have produced more than 30 terabytes of data, equal to about 25 percent of the information stored in the Library of Congress.
During its lifetime Hubble has made about 800,000 observations and snapped about 500,000 images of more than 25,000 celestial objects.
Hubble is 13.3 meters (43.5 feet) long, the length of a large school bus.
Hubble does not travel to stars, planets and galaxies. It snaps pictures of them as it whirls around Earth at 17,500 mph. The telescope has made just more than 100,000 trips around our planet, racking up about 2.4 billion miles. That mileage is slightly more than a round-trip between Earth and Saturn.
Each day the orbiting observatory generates about 10 gigabytes of data, enough information to fill the hard drive of a typical home computer in two weeks.
Astronomers using Hubble data have published nearly 7,000 scientific papers, making it one of the most productive scientific instruments ever built.
About 4,000 astronomers from all over the world have used the telescope to probe the universe.
From around the 18th century, telescopes grew in size and capability, built and restructured worldwide by prominent researchers of the universe who believed that space consisted of a mixture of scattered stars and gases in a sole galaxy, the Milky Way.
In 1918, American Astronomer Edwin Hubble, after whom the Hubble Space Telescope is named, took a step beyond that one-galaxy notion.
Hubble measured the distances and velocities of galaxies and discovered the expanding universe, containing billions of other galaxies, through a 100-inch Hooker Telescope he used at Mt. Wilson Observatory in Pasadena, California.
Throughout history it was every astronomers dream to get exclusive images from space, testing method after method and vigorously enhancing high-tech instruments to fine tune images.
The Earth’s atmosphere, armed with its dynamic protective layers, restricts even the strongest telescopes from obtaining a clear image of extraterrestrial objects.
The Space program has had its share of financial let-downs and the idea of having an orbiting telescope that could be serviced during orbit, as opposed to bringing it back to earth for upkeep, meant cost-efficiency while conveniently maintaining this new modern marvel.
HST was ready for launch in 1985, but after the 1986 Challenger disaster, NASA grounded it’s Space Shuttle Fleet for two years.
During those two years HST was given enhancements as technological advances in computer science and solar cell technology flourished in the late 80s.
By the time HST launched it was better than ever and strong enough to withstand passing through the fierceness of Earth’s atmosphere.
On April 24, 1990, Space Shuttle Discovery escorted the 24,500 pound telescope to the outer limits and the next day it was released into space to orbit the Earth and capture history’s most exotic images of the cosmos for the next 17 years.
Since its launch, HST has had 4 servicing missions, the last one being in 2002, making replacements, repairs and performing necessary upkeep.
NASA Administrator Michael Griffin announced plans for a fifth servicing mission during a meeting with at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., the agency center responsible for managing HST.
NASA plans to keep HST in operation til 2013. On this new mission, astronauts will install two new instruments, the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph and the Wide Field Camera 3.
Each instrument contains advanced technology sensors updating HST’s capabilities, and improvement factors of 10X-70X are expected in certain key performance areas, as stated in NASA documents.
Unfortunately, the new servicing mission has been delayed with no official launch date announced, because of a significant HST anomaly that occurred this weekend affecting the storage and transmittal of science data to Earth, reported in a press release.
From NASA.gov:
The telescope's 17 years' worth of observations have produced more than 30 terabytes of data, equal to about 25 percent of the information stored in the Library of Congress.
During its lifetime Hubble has made about 800,000 observations and snapped about 500,000 images of more than 25,000 celestial objects.
Hubble is 13.3 meters (43.5 feet) long, the length of a large school bus.
Hubble does not travel to stars, planets and galaxies. It snaps pictures of them as it whirls around Earth at 17,500 mph. The telescope has made just more than 100,000 trips around our planet, racking up about 2.4 billion miles. That mileage is slightly more than a round-trip between Earth and Saturn.
Each day the orbiting observatory generates about 10 gigabytes of data, enough information to fill the hard drive of a typical home computer in two weeks.
Astronomers using Hubble data have published nearly 7,000 scientific papers, making it one of the most productive scientific instruments ever built.
About 4,000 astronomers from all over the world have used the telescope to probe the universe.
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