The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) is one of the most renowned and productive space observatories ever launched. Here is detailed information about this iconic instrument:
History
- Conception: The idea for a space telescope was first proposed by astronomer Lyman Spitzer in 1946, but it wasn't until decades later that the project took shape.
- Development: The HST was developed by NASA in partnership with the European Space Agency (ESA). The project began in the 1970s with the actual construction starting in 1977.
- Launch: The telescope was launched into orbit on April 24, 1990, aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery.
- Initial Problems: Shortly after deployment, it was discovered that the primary mirror had been ground to the wrong shape, resulting in spherical aberration. This was corrected during the first servicing mission in 1993.
Technical Specifications
- Orbit: HST orbits Earth at an altitude of approximately 547 km (340 miles) and completes an orbit roughly every 97 minutes.
- Mirrors: The primary mirror has a diameter of 2.4 meters (7.9 feet) and is made of ultra-low expansion glass.
- Instruments: Over its lifetime, HST has been equipped with several instruments including the Wide Field and Planetary Camera (WFPC), the Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS), the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS), and the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS).
- Resolution: HST can resolve astronomical details up to 0.1 arcseconds, which is about 10 times better than what can be achieved from the ground.
Scientific Contributions
- Deep Field Images: The Hubble Deep Field images provided the deepest visible-light image of the universe and revealed galaxies forming shortly after the Big Bang.
- Expanding Universe: Observations from HST have helped to refine measurements of the rate at which the universe is expanding, leading to discoveries about dark energy.
- Exoplanets: HST has been instrumental in studying the atmospheres of exoplanets, contributing to our understanding of these distant worlds.
- Supernova Observations: The telescope has observed supernovae in distant galaxies, which has been crucial in understanding the life cycles of stars.
Servicing Missions
- There have been five servicing missions to the HST:
- SM1 (1993): Corrective optics installed to fix the primary mirror issue.
- SM2 (1997): Installation of new instruments and additional upgrades.
- SM3A (1999): Emergency repair of the telescope's gyroscope system.
- SM3B (2002): Installation of the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) and other maintenance.
- SM4 (2009): Final servicing mission where the Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) was installed along with the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS).
Future
While the HST continues to operate, its successor, the James Webb Space Telescope, was launched in December 2021 to take on observations in the infrared spectrum, complementing HST's capabilities.
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