This means telescopes like Hubble act like time machines, enabling us to study the history of our Universe. Hubble also provided conclusive evidence for the existence of Supermassive Black Holes in the centres of galaxies by observing the galaxy M Hubble also assisted the production of a 3D-map showing the distribution of dark matter in the Universe. Hubble also photographed a never-before-seen evidence of a collision between two asteroids.
The 10,th scientific paper using Hubble data was published. The images showed the galaxies as they were when the Universe was less than 4 percent of its present age. Later in the year that record was broken when Hubble discovered an object from when the Universe was only 3 percent of its present age, only million years after the Big Bang.
The telescope was named after American astronomer Edwin Hubble. Born in , Hubble discovered that many objects previously thought to be clouds of dust and gas and classified as nebulae were actually galaxies beyond the Milky Way.
Working at the Mount Wilson Observatory in California, he made these observations between and using a 2. Being arguably the most successful telescope of all time comes at a cost. However, it is overwhelmingly seen as worth the money in the astronomical community, not only for the world class astronomy its observations makes possible, but also in order to give people around the world a view of the beauty of astronomy from above the clouds.
Explore space from the comfort of home. Introducing Illuminates, accessible guides on space written by Royal Observatory astronomers. The Hubble Space Telescope was launched in , taken to space in the cargo bay of the space shuttle Discovery. Its main purpose was to figure out a distance scale of the Universe how big it is and where the elements present in space came from. That is what interests scientists. But the pictures it takes! That's what intrigues most of humanity.
But the HST did not just happen. Centuries of work by curious astronomers led to its conception. Here is a short history of events and inventors that led to its development. Tell about a time when you used each of your senses to figure out something about the world or the Universe. At some point between and , a Polish astronomer, Nicolaus Copernicus , announced that the planets revolved, not around the Earth as everyone believed but around the Sun.
He watched the skies with only his eyes since a hundred more years were to pass before the telescope was invented. On November 11, , Tycho Brahe , a Danish astronomer, used accurate calculations to show that a bright light in the night sky was not a nearby comet but was, in fact, a supernova, or exploding star, that was as distant as the other stars.
By the year , he had measured the positions of the planets along their orbits and the apparently fixed positions of more than stars. The first devices used to pinpoint and measure the stars were crude, awkward "parallactic instruments. The purpose of the rulers was to measure a star's zenith , or the highest point a star reaches above the horizon. With spherical trigonometry, early astronomers used these zenith distances to calculate a star's longitude and latitude , and thus fix its position in the sky.
The astrolabe is a very ancient astronomical device that is adjusted to show how the sky looks at a specific place at a given time. Astronomers used it to find the time of sunrise and sunset and, thus, how long the day was, and to locate celestial objects in the sky. This was done by drawing the sky on the face of the astrolabe and marking it so positions in the sky are easy to find. The quadrant is another early measuring instrument used by astronomers. By sighting along a quadrant's edge, early astronomers focused on a star's altitude above the horizon.
A string or metal strip would hang straight down, pulled by gravity , against a curved, carved scale. While holding the quadrant in one hand, the astronomer clamped the string or metal strip against the scale with the other hand and read the number that told the height. By the s, astronomical quadrants sometimes carried telescopic sights, and even micrometers , for increased accuracy.
Astronomers needed more accuracy from their quadrants. Their solution was to make them bigger. That way the user could read smaller graduations on the scale when measuring a star's position. Skilled artisans were employed to make exceptionally large quadrants that were permanently fastened for stability on north-south walls.
Since they were part of the wall they were called mural quadrants and were part of elaborate decorations. By using a clock alongside the mural quadrant, an astronomer could measure the time and altitude of a star from which he could calculate its exact position.
The scientists and astronomers who studied the heavens did so because they were drawn to the mystery of it. There was no way they could fail to learn. What would you try to do if you knew you could not fail? Around , a Dutch eyeglass maker, Hans Lippershey , assembled one of the early telescopes.
While he surely was not the first to make one, he did, however, tell a lot of people about it and the news spread across Europe. The first astronomer to use a telescope was the great Italian scientist, Galileo Galilei in It was he who first saw the craters of the moon, sunspots, the four large moons of Jupiter, and the rings of Saturn.
Galileo's telescope used a group of glass lenses to magnify objects. The glass lenses in the Galileo telescope weren't very clear, however. They were full of little bubbles and had a greenish tinge because it was difficult to refine all the iron particles out of the sand used in the glass making process.
Another problem was that the shape of the glass lenses gave the field of view very fuzzy edges. While this refracting telescope gave 30 times magnification, Galileo could see only a very narrow image.
A mere quarter of the moon's face could be observed before the rotation of the Earth moved the telescope off its position. Then he had to move his telescope to observe a different area. Thanks to servicing via spacewalks, it is still going pretty well. Unfortuantely, one of the cameras onboard has stopped working. The ACS advanced camera for surveys can detect light from the ultraviolet to the near-infrared end of the spectrum and has been invaluable for astronomers since it was installed in Is it worth taking that risk?
I would say yes.
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