Chapter one: The Hubble Space Telescope The wonderful Hubble ...
Chapter one: The Hubble Space Telescope
The Hubble Telescope in orbit above the earth. Image credit: ESA & ST-ECF
The wonderful Hubble Space Telescope received its name from Edwin Powell Hubble (18891953) who was one of the great pioneers of modern astronomy. The Hubble Space Telescope (Hubble) travels around the Earth at 28,000 kilometres an hour and manages to record the wonderful moments that take place in our glorious Universe. Hubble has drawn back that invisible curtain to the Universe, allowing us to look through a magical window and view images we never imagined could exist. So what is it about Hubble that makes it so wonderful? Well for a start, Hubble has made more that 100,000 trips around the Earth while generating more than 70 gigabytes of data each month. It is a long-term space-based observatory, collaboration between ESA and NASA and is able to carry out its observations in visible, infrared and ultraviolet light, making it an extremely efficient tool for making new discoveries in our Universe. The planet Earth has a very turbulent atmosphere causing any fine cosmic images arriving at Earth-based telescopes to be a bit blurred and this happens in the last few microseconds before light arrives at telescope mirrors on Earth. This turbulent atmosphere also makes the stars appear to twinkle on a dark sky. However, as Hubble is based about 600km above the Earth and above the Earth’s turbulent atmosphere, it is able to evade this problem and send clear, sharp, high resolution images back to Earth.
Hubble’s Orbit around the Earth ESA Here we can see Hubble orbiting the Earth at an altitude which is slightly less than 600 km above the ground. Hubble’s orbit is inclined at 28.5 degrees to the Equator and it takes approximately 96-97 minutes to complete on orbit around the Earth.
The Hubble Telescope in space. Image credit: NASA/ESA
The Faint Object Spectrograph (FOS) was an important instrument during the early years of the Hubble Telescope, as it was able to measure the unusually large motions of gas and stars, enabling the mystery of the black holes to be unravelled. It also obtained important information on the chemical composition of faint and remote areas of the Universe, which would have otherwise remained a mystery. All of the observations collected by the FOS between August 1990 and December 1996 are safely stored in the Hubble Science Archive. The FOS was replaced by the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) during the second Hubble Servicing Mission, as this is a more powerful Space Telescope.
The Hubble Telescope in orbit above the earth. Image credit: ESA & ST-ECF
The wonderful Hubble Space Telescope received its name from Edwin Powell Hubble (18891953) who was one of the great pioneers of modern astronomy. The Hubble Space Telescope (Hubble) travels around the Earth at 28,000 kilometres an hour and manages to record the wonderful moments that take place in our glorious Universe. Hubble has drawn back that invisible curtain to the Universe, allowing us to look through a magical window and view images we never imagined could exist. So what is it about Hubble that makes it so wonderful? Well for a start, Hubble has made more that 100,000 trips around the Earth while generating more than 70 gigabytes of data each month. It is a long-term space-based observatory, collaboration between ESA and NASA and is able to carry out its observations in visible, infrared and ultraviolet light, making it an extremely efficient tool for making new discoveries in our Universe. The planet Earth has a very turbulent atmosphere causing any fine cosmic images arriving at Earth-based telescopes to be a bit blurred and this happens in the last few microseconds before light arrives at telescope mirrors on Earth. This turbulent atmosphere also makes the stars appear to twinkle on a dark sky. However, as Hubble is based about 600km above the Earth and above the Earth’s turbulent atmosphere, it is able to evade this problem and send clear, sharp, high resolution images back to Earth.
Hubble’s Orbit around the Earth ESA Here we can see Hubble orbiting the Earth at an altitude which is slightly less than 600 km above the ground. Hubble’s orbit is inclined at 28.5 degrees to the Equator and it takes approximately 96-97 minutes to complete on orbit around the Earth.
The Hubble Telescope in space. Image credit: NASA/ESA
The Faint Object Spectrograph (FOS) was an important instrument during the early years of the Hubble Telescope, as it was able to measure the unusually large motions of gas and stars, enabling the mystery of the black holes to be unravelled. It also obtained important information on the chemical composition of faint and remote areas of the Universe, which would have otherwise remained a mystery. All of the observations collected by the FOS between August 1990 and December 1996 are safely stored in the Hubble Science Archive. The FOS was replaced by the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) during the second Hubble Servicing Mission, as this is a more powerful Space Telescope.
