![]() The cluster resides in a raucous stellar breeding ground known as Gum 29, located 20,000 light-years away from Earth in the constellation Carina. ![]() The sparkling centerpiece of this fireworks show is a giant cluster of thousands of stars called Westerlund 2. The brilliant tapestry of young stars flaring to life resemble a glittering fireworks display in this Hubble Space Telescope archival image. ![]() “As the images have come up on our screens,” Hubble director Robert Williams said, “we have not been able to keep from wondering if we might somehow be seeing our own origins in all of this.” More about seeing early galaxies Using the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2, scientists took 342 separate exposures that they assembled into one image: the Hubble Deep Field.Ĭovering a patch of sky only about the width of a dime as seen from 23 meters (75 feet) away, the Hubble Deep Field revealed at least 1,500 galaxies in various stages of evolution. How Hubble changed the way we picture our universeįor ten consecutive days in December 1995, the Hubble Space Telescope looked deep into space-and back in time. The vibrant and stunning Hubble images released to the public often reflect what their makers want us to understand about an object, rather than how the object would actually appear to our eyes. Technicians at the Space Telescope Science Institute, where the Hubble images are processed, employ both science and artistry to color and orient the data they receive from the telescope. Hubble images serve both scientific and cultural purposes. COSTAR was an ingenious solution to the unexpected challenge of correcting the Hubble’s distorted vision. A new fourth instrument, a wide-field camera, came with its own built-in corrective optics. These mirrors were precisely shaped to cancel the flaw in the large main mirror, and precisely positioned to send corrected, focused light into three instruments. A Shuttle crew installed this corrective optics package, called COSTAR (Corrective Optics Space Telescope Axial Replacement), in 1993 and returned it to Earth in 2009 when it was replaced with the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph.ĬOSTAR's long box holds a clever device: tiny nickel-size mirrors that extended on short arms into the light path inside the telescope. It distorted images and data, making everything blurry. Soon after its launch in 1990, scientists realized that the Hubble Space Telescope’s large primary mirror was flawed. During a 1993 repair mission, Shuttle astronauts installed COSTAR, a device that resolved the problem, and scientists were finally able to make full use of the telescope’s incredible capabilities. Launched from Space Shuttle Discovery in 1990, the telescope was initially hampered by a defectively shaped main mirror. It dramatically altered the way in which we view our universe.įrom its vantage point high above Earth's obscuring atmosphere, the telescope provides astronomers with fascinating new information on the universe. The Hubble Space Telescope is one of the largest astronomical telescopes ever sent into space.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |