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