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Astronomy: Hubble Space Telescope
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Many telescopes are experiencing difficulty with Earth's atmosphere. When the sky is clouded it's very difficult to observe the skies. And even on a clear night Earth's atmosphere is a distortion for an observing astronomer. The Hubble Space Telescope was designed by Nasa and brought into a fixed orbit around Earth. Without the distortions of an atmosphere the Hubble Space Telescope is able to look at objects far away and has amazed scientists with detailed images from then. The Hubble Space Telescope was the first of NASA's Great Observatories. Other observatories are the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory in 1991 and the Spitzer Space Telescope in 2003. Dazzling images from galaxies, Pluto and its moon Charon, observations of Supernova's and nebulae have been made. The Hubble Space Telescope is an enrichment for science. Faulty developmentWhen the Hubble Space Telescope was brought into its orbit around Earth, Nasa received dissapointing first data. Only then it was discovered that there was made an error in the development of the telescope. There was a spherical aberration in the primary mirror of Hubble; pictures taken by Hubble Space Telescope were blurry.Nasa was able to correct the problem in space. In 1990 the creation of a complex packaging of five optical mirror pairs was approved. These mirror pairs would rectify the spherical aberration in the Hubble Space Telescope's primary mirror. The five optical mirror pairs were installed on Servicing Mission 1 in december 1993 by astronauts of space shuttle Endeavour. Now the Hubble Space Telescope is operating very good and is collecting astonishing data. The telescope is operating almost to its full designed abilities. The Hubble Space Telescope factsIn 2004 Nasa decided that the Hubble Space Telescope is too expensive to maintain. In the future it will be put out of service. New telescopes will take its place. Related subjects>> Hubble Deep Field pictures>> Edwin Hubble >> Official Hubble internetsite >> Compton Gamma Ray Observatory >> Spitzer Space Telescope |
 24 April 1990, the launch of space shuttle Discovery carrying the Hubble Space Telescope  The space shuttle cargobay opens and the Hubble is put into position   In 1997 the Hubble had its second servicing mission (first in 1993; third in 1999). The Pistol Grip Tool was the first cordless power tool in space. < JPG image 768 X 512 pixels >  |
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