Hubble Telescope put into orbit in 1990 with the help of the shuttle “Discovery”.
This star cluster – Westerlund 2 – is 20 thousand light years from Earth in the constellation Carina.
“Hubble” was launched on the shuttle ship “Discovery” April 24, 1990.
NASA engineers believe that the orbital telescope will last at least another five years.
“The most
great optimist could have predicted in 1990, to what extent
“Hubble” rewrite all our textbooks on astrophysics and planetary science, “-
said NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden.
Shortly after the launch of the telescope revealed a defect in its main mirror, which made all the images blurry.
In 1993, the astronauts managed to correct this defect by installing a specially crafted corrective the device.
After another four visits to
maintenance of the telescope it is in excellent condition and with
technical level capable of much greater than after
run.
In the past, “Hubble” suffered from the gradual deterioration of its six gyroscopes, which are used in the system orientation.
However,
after replacing only one has failed in March 2014. Over the past
years due to the replacement of obsolete electronic components and installing new
Camera Telescope began to work much better.
It is difficult to overestimate the contribution of the space telescope science.
At the time of its launch, astronomers knew nothing about the age of the universe – estimates ranged from 10 to 20 billion years.
Research
pulsars conducted using a telescope, has narrowed the spread, and,
According to current concepts, since the Big Bang took place 13.8
billion years.
which, according to current views, is 13.8 billion years old
“Hubble” has played a crucial role in
detecting acceleration with which the universe is expanding, and brought
decisive evidence of the existence of supermassive black holes in
the centers of galaxies.
The strongest party at Space Telescope
compared to the new generation of ground-based telescopes is its unique
ability to penetrate into the deep past of the universe, observing objects
which were formed in the very early stages of its history.
thousands of light-years away and is the remains of a supernova explosion
Among the major achievements
Telescope observations undoubtedly be called “deep field” when
he spent many days fixed light radiation coming to us
dark part of the sky and revealed the presence of thousands of extremely remote and
very weakly luminous galaxies.
Currently, a large telescope
of the time engaged in similar observations in the framework of the “Fields
Frontier. “” Hubble “examines six huge clusters of ancient
galaxies.
Using the effect of gravitational lensing, “Hubble” is able to look into the more distant past of the universe.
“Gravity,
distorting the light coming from distant galaxies allows us to look
for these clusters, “- says Jennifer Lotz, a participant of the program.
” Hubble “is now able to” see “objects whose light is 10-50 times less than that of previously observed.
The purpose of
this research is to observe the earliest stages of formation
the first generation of stars and galaxies, distant from the Big Bang all
a few hundred million years.
It is this on another level
will and heir to the telescope “Hubble” – a much larger and
Perfect Space Telescope “James Webb”.
Its launch
scheduled for 2018. It was designed and built specifically for
such a task. Making a picture to which the telescope
“Hubble” go days and weeks, it only takes a clock.
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