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Hubble Space Telescope
Advanced Space Academy
Fall 2003
USSRC Proprietary
Hubble Astronomy
The Astronomer: Edwin Hubble
The Telescope: Mission, Optics & Repairs
Major Discoveries
Companions: past, present and future
The Astronomer: Edwin Hubble 1889-1953
2.5m Schmidt reflector at Mt PalomarAndromeda: proved many “nebulae” are star systems or galaxies like Milky Way1929: Expanding Universe
The Mission
Launch Date: 1990
First Functionality: 1993
Range: UV, IR and Visible light
Major Objectives Outer Solar System Black Holes Age of Universe Total Sky Survey
Backyard Comparison:
1 degree = 60 arcminutes = 3600 arcsecondsBest ground scopes: 1 arcsecondHubble: .05 arcsecond2 fireflies in San Francisco from NYC
The Telescope: Optics/Repairs
1993 STS-61: Corrective optics1999 STS-103: Gyroscopes, Computer, Data Recorder2002: new solar arrays, coolant for IR camera, remove COSTAR
Still Active: 2002
Major Discoveries: Solar System
Quaoar (Qwa-War)Not a tenth planet!One of many icy balls in Kuiper Belt with Pluto
Major Discoveries: Solar System
Neptune’s disappearing storms
Major Discoveries: Solar System
Jupiter & Shoemaker-Levy, 1994
Major Discoveries: Black Holes
Chicken vs. egg: Black holes in star clusters seem to form galaxies
Deep Field
Major Discoveries: Supernova Remnant
Harbors Neutron Star
Rotation: 8 seconds
Gamma Ray Repeater
Major Discoveries: Age of the Universe
Cooling of White Dwarfs
13-15 billion years
Oldest known Milky Way planet: 13 billion years old
Companions: The Great Observatories
Chandra
Compton (deorbited 2001)
SIRTF – Launched September 2003
[XMM-Newton (ESA)]
Companions: Chandra
X-ray
Mirrors nearly parallel to light
Eta Carina: Black hole?
Deep Sky Survey
Companions: Compton
Gamma Rays (high energy, short wavelength)
No lens or mirror – instead, dense atoms
Measure angle of escaping electrons after gammas hit
Companions: SIRTF
New name December 2003
Infrared (heat)
Detects stars-to-be
More Information
www.stsci.edu
www.gsfc.nasa.gov
www.spaceflight.nasa.gov
