The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) is a Space Telescope that was launched into Low Earth Orbit in 1990, and remains in operation
The telescope is named after the Astronomer Edwin Hubble(November 20, 1889 – September 28, 1953)an American Astronomer who played a crucial role in establishing the field of extragalactic astnonomy and is generally regarded as one of the most important observational cosmologists of the 20th century.
With a 2.4-meter (7.9 ft) mirror, Hubble's 4 main instruments observe in the near ultraviolet,visible and near infrared spectra
When launched, the HST carried five scientific instruments: the Wide Field and Planetary Camera (WF/PC), Goddard High Resolution Spectrograph (GHRS), High Speed Photometer (HSP), Faint Object Camera (FOC) and the Faint Object Spectrograph (FOS).
Hubble is the only telescope designed to be serviced in space by astronauts.
After launch by Space Shuttle Discovery in 1990, four subsequent Space Shuttle missions repaired, upgraded, and replaced systems on the telescope.
The telescope is still operating as of 2015, and may last until 2030–2040
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope was launched April 24, 1990, on the space shuttle Discovery from Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The telescope is named after the Astronomer Edwin Hubble(November 20, 1889 – September 28, 1953)an American Astronomer who played a crucial role in establishing the field of extragalactic astnonomy and is generally regarded as one of the most important observational cosmologists of the 20th century.
When launched, the HST carried five scientific instruments: the Wide Field and Planetary Camera (WF/PC), Goddard High Resolution Spectrograph (GHRS), High Speed Photometer (HSP), Faint Object Camera (FOC) and the Faint Object Spectrograph (FOS).
Hubble is the only telescope designed to be serviced in space by astronauts.
After launch by Space Shuttle Discovery in 1990, four subsequent Space Shuttle missions repaired, upgraded, and replaced systems on the telescope.
The telescope is still operating as of 2015, and may last until 2030–2040
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope was launched April 24, 1990, on the space shuttle Discovery from Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
- Hubble has made more than 1.2 million observations since its mission began in 1990.
- Astronomers using Hubble data have published more than 12,800 scientific papers, making it one of the most productive scientific instruments ever built.
- Hubble does not travel to stars, planets or galaxies. It takes pictures of them as it whirls around Earth at about 17,000 mph.
- Hubble has traveled more than 3 billion miles along a circular low Earth orbit currently about 340 miles in altitude.
- Hubble has no thrusters. To change pointing angles, it uses Newton’s third law by spinning its wheels in the opposite direction. It turns at about the speed of a minute hand on a clock, taking 15 minutes to turn 90 degrees.
- Hubble has the pointing accuracy of .007 arc seconds, which is like being able to shine a laser beam on a dime 200 miles away.
- Outside the haze of our atmosphere, Hubble can see astronomical objects with an angular size of 0.05 arc seconds, which is like seeing a pair of fireflies in Tokyo from your home in Maryland.
- Hubble has peered back into the very distant past, to locations more than 13.4 billion light years from Earth.
- The Hubble archive contains more than 100 Terabytes, and Hubble science data processing generates about 10 Terabytes of new archive data per year.
- Hubble weighed about 24,000 pounds at launch and currently weighs about 27,000 pounds following the final servicing mission in 2009 – on the order of two full-grown African elephants.
- Hubble's primary mirror is 2.4 meters (7 feet, 10.5 inches) across.
- Hubble is 13.3 meters (43.5 feet) long -- the length of a large school bus.
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