Hubble Space Telescope

[ Up ]

The Hubble Space Telescope is a satellite telescope that is orbiting Earth so it can get clearer pictures and collect better information about things in space. A space telescope gives us more accurate information than if we use a telescope on Earth because a space telescope is not affected by the Earth’s atmosphere. If the telescope is orbiting Earth or is out in space, we don’t have to worry about the Earth’s atmosphere getting in its way.

The Hubble was brought into space by the Space Shuttle Discovery. It is orbiting just miles above the Earth’s atmosphere. The Hubble was sent to find answers to these questions:

How are stars born?

How do stars die?

Do black holes really exist?

Have planets formed around other stars the way our solar system formed around the Sun?

If they have, could life exist on one of those planets, too?

Image of Hubble Space Telescope at http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/image/spacecraft/hst_deploy1.jpg courtesy of NASA. Permission at http://www.nasa.gov/gallery/photo/guideline.html.

The Hubble gathers information about space that could not be seen through a telescope beneath the Earth’s atmosphere and sends information to Earth by computer. There are no computer cords running from the Hubble to Earth! It sends information through radio waves to Earth.

Hubble has answered many questions, but has raised even more. Luckily more answers will come in this millennium.

The Error

Two months after its launch, the Hubble was in trouble. Images came back fuzzy and out of focus. People thought it was ruined and couldn’t be fixed. Right away, NASA and the European Space Agency got to work on fixing the Hubble.

When the Hubble was first launched, its lens was off by 1/50 of a human hair. Focusing on small and dark images was made difficult by even this small defect. Eventually, a solution was found, and NASA sent a shuttle on a mission to fix the Hubble. Because the Hubble is so low in the Earth’s orbit, it could be worked on by a shuttle. It will continue to be worked on about every three years until it is retrieved in the year 2010. The mirror repair cost NASA $8,000,000 dollars.

Things Found by the Hubble

Using the Hubble, people have been able to learn many things. The Hubble has increased the possibility of finding other living things that are out there somewhere and might be more advanced than we are.

Another thing people have found by using the Hubble are amazing pictures of star birth in the Cartwheel Galaxy.

Using Hubble, people at the Space Telescope Science Institute were able to measure the speed of gas rotating around a suspected black hole in the center of a far away galaxy. Scientists hoped that because the telescope orbits above the Earth and its atmosphere, it would be able to capture light from about twenty billion years ago.

The Hubble has expanded our understanding of star birth and death, galaxy evolution, and has moved black holes from theory to fact. It has downloaded over 100,000 pictures of the universe in the last eight years.

Jupiter

Hubble looks past our solar system, but it also looks within it. The Hubble took pictures as black debris flew high into Jupiter’s atmosphere when a comet hit the planet and then settled on top of the clouds. The Hubble was able to detect that the black debris from Jupiter contained a large amount of sulfur and ammonia. It also picked up evidence of the comet pieces.

Jupiter’s winds blow opposite of how wind blows on Earth. The winds on Jupiter blow from its poles to the equator. The Hubble found this information. Hubble is still watching Jupiter, and scientists are still studying the information Hubble is sending back.

Image of Jupiter at http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/image/planetary/jupiter/jupiter_gany.jpg courtesy of NASA. Permission at http://www.nasa.gov/gallery/photo/guideline.html

Saturn

In December of 1994, amazing images of the ringed planet were sent back to Earth from the Hubble. Hubble picked up evidence of a rare storm on Saturn’s surface. The angle Hubble photographed Saturn’s rings made it look like they disappeared. Astronomers discovered that Saturn’s rings are only 300 feet thick, but they are 171,000 miles across! It looked like the rings disappeared because of the angle they were looked at and how thick they are.

Hubble discovered that Saturn actually has more moons than previously thought. Most astronomers think that the moon count on Saturn should be moved up from 18 to 22. This would raise the moon count of our solar system from 60 to 64.

Venus

Hubble has shown astronomers that volcanic activity on Venus seems to be slowing down, so the planet’s atmosphere is getting cleaner as less sulfur dioxide is produced. With a surface temperature of 870 degrees Fahrenheit, hot enough to melt some metals, Venus is not a very friendly place to visit. This means we couldn’t live there.

Mars

Hubble took pictures that show that the dust storms on Mars are seasonal and partly caused by its elliptical orbit, which causes it to sometimes be closer to the sun than at other times of the year. Dust storms on Mars get worse when Mars is closest to the Sun, and the atmosphere gets colder when its orbit takes it away from the Sun’s warming rays. As the temperature on Mars drops, the dust freezes and settles to the ground. Now that the dust has settled, Mars becomes even cooler. The Hubble also shows that water in the Martian atmosphere has frozen into ice-crystal clouds, allowing the planet to become drier, too.

Hubble is gathering weather information on Mars, and astronomers have discovered a decrease in the planet’s temperature. The planet is cooler than ever seen before.

The Hubble provides important information for planning space travel to Mars in the future.

Vesta

Vesta is the brightest asteroid in the night sky and is the only one visible to the naked eye. The Hubble has taken pictures of Vesta as it orbits the Sun. Some astronomers believe Vesta deserves to be promoted to a higher level of classification, becoming the sixth earthlike planet.

Conclusion

We are lucky to have a telescope like the Hubble that is out of the Earth’s atmosphere and is orbiting Earth. We don’t have to worry about the Earth’s atmosphere getting in its way as it searches for new information about our solar system and the universe.