Eyes in the Sky: The Hubble Space Telescope

1. Eyes in the Sky: The Hubble Space Telescope By Parker J. E. Carte

2. People Love to Look at the Sky • For centuries, people have enjoyed looking at the sky • People have raised many questions • What are the planets made of? • How big is the universe? • People knew that they needed more than their eyes to answer all the questions that they have about space

3. Telescopes Dutch lensmakers made the first telescope in 1608 Telescopes are essential in the science of astronomy Galileo Galilei was an Italian astronomer who heard about the Dutch telescope He started to build his own telescopes He made special glass lenses for his He put a lens in a tube that would magnify objects

4. Galileo’s Telescope • By 1609, Galileo built a telescope that would magnify object twenty times • Galileo began to see special things • Craters on the moon • Mountains on the moon • Stars of our galaxy • Four of Jupiter’s moons • As a result of Galileo’s work, scientists worked to improve the telescope • Scientists began to add mirrors with the lenses • This combination of mirrors and lenses allowed them to see farther into space • Today, computer-controlled telescopes are used to explore the depths of space

5. What Are the Best Places for Telescopes? • Scientists still can’t see as clearly as they would like because of three major drawbacks • Smoke, particle, and other types of pollution • Artificial lights (especially in cities) • Earth’s atmosphere is made up of layers of gases that distort light coming from space • Moisture in the air bends and reflects light and makes objects look blurry • Scientists have found ways to avoid these problems • They built telescopes away from cities • They are built in deserts and on mountaintops • Air is thinner and cleaner • They’ve even been placed on dormant volcanoes • Hawaii’s Mauna Kea volcano is home to the twin Keck telescopes

6. The Keck Telescopes Their favorable location on Earth has made them a powerful tool for astronomers They have provided some great pictures They have to look at the universe through the Earth’s atmosphere Still presents some problems Scientists continued to look for even better options

7. The Hubble Space Telescope Scientists have used the Hubble Space Telescope since 1990 It doesn’t have to look at the universe through Earth’s atmosphere It floats through space It is high above the Earth Space is the very best place for a telescope

8. History of The Hubble Space Telescope • In 1975, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the European Space Agency (ESA) started working to develop a space telescope • Eventually, the telescope was named the Hubble Space Telescope • It is named in honor of Edwin Powell Hubble • American astronomer who lived from 1899 to 1953

9. History of The Hubble Space Telescope It was designed so that visiting astronauts could repair and improve it on a regular basis Scientists thought it would last 15 years with the ongoing maintenance The plan was for astronauts from all over the world to use it for space research It took many years to build it It finally went into space on April 24, 1990 It was carried to space aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery It was set into orbit 375 miles above the Earth on April 25, 1990

10. The Hubble Space Telescope:Some Quick Facts • Size • 43.5 feet long (about the size of a school bus) • On Earth, it weighed 12 tons • Orbit • Circles Earth at a speed of 5 miles per second • Every 97 minutes, it complete one orbit • Position • It can hold steady for extended periods to allow its cameras to take pictures • It has a pointing control system the constantly corrects its position • Data Collection and Communication • It collects almost 4 gigabytes of data every day • That is enough information to fill up an entire set of encyclopedias • The information is transmitted to scientists on Earth by satellites

11. The Hubble Space Telescope:Time for “Eyeglasses” • After being in space for a month, it started sending pictures back to Earth • Images were sent in radio signals • People were expecting perfect pictures of space • Pictures were actually fuzzy • Scientists found the problem • One of its primary mirrors was flatter than it should have been • The flaw was very tiny—thinner than one human hair • Scientists decided to put “eyeglasses” on it • They created a set of corrective mirrors to cancel out the defect in the primary mirror • This worked the same way glasses work on people

12. How Did It Actually Get the “Eyeglasses” In December 1993, a crew from the Space Shuttle Endeavour was sent to make the repair Once in space, astronauts hauled the telescope into the shuttle’s cargo bay They spent 5 days installing the mirrors The pictures were spectacular after the repairs

13. The Views from The Hubble Space Telescope • It has taken pictures from galaxies near and far • It has taken a picture of Spiral galaxy NGC 3949 which is more than 50 million light-years away • In 2002, astronauts installed a new camera and other scientific instruments • The new instruments allowed it to go even further into space • The final servicing mission took place in May 2009 • It has been able to see areas that were never able to be seen before • Light that it is picking up has taken billions of years to travel to Earth • Galaxies in this new area have strange shapes, sizes, and colors • They are not spiral like the galaxies we see closer to us

14. Sources www.galileo.rice.edu www.google.com www.howstuffworks.com www.hubble.nasa.gov www.hubblesite.org www.keckobservatory.org www.nasa.gov www.seti.org www.space.com www.spacetelescope.org www.stsci.edu www.wikipedia.org World Book Encyclopedia

15. Hope You Enjoyed the Slide Show! Pictures by Parker J. E. Carte Information by Parker J. E. Carte Background by Parker J. E. Carte