Hubble Space Telescope

What is the Hubble Space Telescope?

The Hubble Space Telescope is a very large and useful space telescope that was launched into Earth's orbit. NASA launched Hubble in 1990. It was not the first telescope, but it is one of the largest and most versatile. It is often referred to as HST or Hubble. The Hubble Telescope is named after astronomer Edwin Hubble. It faces space and takes pictures of planets, stars and galaxies.

The Hubble Telescope was built by the United States space agency NASA with contributions from the European Space Agency. Hubble is the only space-telescope designed to be maintained in space by astronauts.

Features of The Hubble

It is as long as a large school bus.
It travels around Earth at 4.7 miles (about 7.59 km) per second.
It's main telescope lens has a diameter of 2.4m.
It weighs as much as two adult elephants, which is around 11000 Kg.
It runs on a power of 2,800 watts.
It is operated by NASA and ESA.

Who HST works?

Hubble features a 2.4-meter mirror. It's four main instruments observe in the ultraviolet, visible and near-infrared regions. It accommodates five science instruments at a given time:

Wide Field and Planetary Camera (WF/PC)
Goddard High-Resolution Spectrograph (GHRS)
High-Speed Photometer (HSP)
Faint Object Camera (FOC)
Faint Object Spectrograph (FOS)

It is the only space-telescope designed to be maintained in space by astronauts. Five Space Shuttle missions have repaired, upgraded, and replaced systems on the telescope, including all five of the main instruments.

It uses a digital camera. It takes pictures like that of a mobile phone. Then Hubble uses radio waves to send the pictures through the air back to Earth.

Discoveries and Impact of Hubble on Astronomy

Hubble has helped scientists really learn about our solar system. It even discovered moons around Pluto that had not been seen before. The telescope faces the space and observes comets, planets, and Stars. A picture called "Hubble Ultra Deep Field" shows some of the farthest galaxies.

Hubble ultra deep field

It has spotted black holes. Because of HST, astronomers think the universe is formed almost 14 billion years old. The telescope has helped scientists understand how planets and galaxies form. And Hubble has helped us to learn more about explosions that happen when huge stars burn out.

Future of The Hubble Telescope

Hubble turned 30 years old in 2020. In 2009, astronauts flew to Hubble for the fifth time to fix it and put new parts and camera in it, and it will not be fixed again. It is decaying over time and if not rebooted, it will re-enter the Earth's atmosphere within some decades. NASA's original plan for safely de-orbiting Hubble was to retrieve it using a Space Shuttle.

Another space telescope is being built by the NASA. It is called the James Webb Space Telescope and will be bigger than the HST. The Webb telescope will be able to see a different kind of light than the light Hubble does. It is scheduled to launch in 2021.