The Hubble Space Telescope

Today in class we discussed the most important telescope known to man... the Hubble Space Telescope.

This telescope was named after Edwin Hubble, an astronomer who confirmed that the universe is in fact expanding, which provided the foundation of the Big Bang Theory.

What is the design?

Interior:

The interior features a 2.4 meter mirror, and five main instruments that observe in the ultraviolet, visible and near-infrared regions of the electromagnetic spectrum.

These instruments are: the Wide Field and Planetary Camera (WF/PC), the Goddard High Resolution Spectrograph (GHRS), the High Speed Photometer (HSP), the Faint Object Camera (FOC), and the Faint Object Spectrograph (FOS).

Exterior:

The Hubble Space Telescope was made to be fixed in space (not moving). It has a modular design so astronauts can easily replace broken parts. It also has 76 handholds around the outside for astronauts convenience.

When did it launch? What is it's mission?

The Hubble Space Telescope launched on April 24th, 1990 from the Discovery Space Shuttle. This was 7 years after the planned launch date. Hubble travels around the earth at about 8 kilometers per second. It takes pictures of planets, stars and galaxies. It has seen stars being born and stars dying, it has also seen comet collisions and galaxies trillions of kilometers away. Hubble is able to do this because the telescope is wayyyyyyy above earth's atmosphere. So nothing is blocking the light for Hubble to observe the natures of space.