Hubble Space Telescope: The Boon to Astronomy

The Hubble Space Telescope is actually a Boon to Astronomy field. It was fundamentally launched into orbits on the 24th of April, 1990 by Space Shuttle Discovery.

Introduction-

The Hubble Orbits are approximately 548 kilometers above the earth’s surface and are traveling about 5 miles per second.

Hubble Space Telescope

Its length is around a large school bus and weighs as many as two adult elephants respectively. It typically travels from the eastern coast of the United States to the Western coast nearly in 10 minutes.

The Hubble Space Telescope has helped scientists to learn plenty about the universe with the help of a variety of colorful and mysterious images. Even many of them are too beautiful and full of surprises!

What Makes Hubble Specific From the Other Telescopes?

This question arises too often that what are the most interesting things that make Hubble specific from the rest of the telescopes.

Geographically, Earth’s atmosphere has a nature of blocking and altering the lights coming from space, and as Hubble orbits are above the earth’s surface, it gives a crystal clear view of the universe!

What Is the Origin of the Name ‘Hubble’?

There was a great American Astronomer in the 1990s named Edwin P. Hubble, who has made a ton of discoveries in his time. Hubble got his name from the same scientist.

He’s one of the main discoveries states that:

“The Milky Way Galaxy which contains the Solar System in itself was only one of the millions of galaxies.”

Hubble space telescope discoveries
Credit: NASA, ESA, M. Livio and the Hubble 20th Anniversary Team (STScI)

He also showed from his keen search that the universe is continuously expanding. Subsequently, it leads to the Big Bang Theory, which defines that our universe originated with a severe burst of energy.

Important Instruments on Hubble

At the time of launching, Hubble accommodates many scientific instruments with it, plus the Fine Guidance Sensors, which mainly focus on telescopes but are rarely made in use for astrometry measurements.

From time to time, early instruments got replaced with prerequisite and advanced ones during the Shuttle Servicing Missions, taken place in several years.

Note- COSTAR was one of the significant corrective optics devices which corrected Hubble’s error in the year 1993.

The final servicing missions took place in the year 2009 in which four active instruments were namely COS, STIS, WFC3, and ACS. And its total cost is 1 Billion US Dollars

What are the Prime Discoveries Made by Hubble?

First of all, the images captured by Hubble have cleared up lots of confusion!  It has helped scientists estimate the age and size of the universe. According to Hubble, scientists believe that the universe is around 14 billion years old.

Hubble has also assisted to determine the formation of planets and galaxies. Also, an image was detected by Hubble known as ‘Hubble Ultra Deep Field’ that displayed the farthest galaxies ever in view.

Hubble has detected black holes and a mysterious force which is the reason for the constant expansion of the universe.

Future of Hubble: A Great History

It is noteworthy that in the year 2020, Hubble has successfully completed its 30 years, which signifies the ultimate victory of humanitarian efforts!

The unique thing about Hubble Space Telescope is that it is designed in such a way that it could be repaired and upgraded, depending upon the circumstances.

Since its launch, five space shuttle missions have brought the astronauts to Hubble to upgrade it with time and technology. The everlast mission was in the year 2009.

What’s the Next Move After Hubble Telescope?

As Hubble has won millions of hearts with its performance, it should be noted that it will be no longer in repaired anymore. The year 2009 was the last innovative year for Hubble Space Telescope.

Now what? Is there any other telescope that can replace the Great Hubble? The answer is yes!
NASA and its international partners are currently preparing the James Webb Space Telescope which is considered 100% more efficient than Hubble.

Complete Overview on James Webb Space Telescope.

We will surely update you with every enormous activity of the James Webb Space Telescope. Just subscribe to us for more updates and have an astonishing day ahead!

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