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SUNRISE |
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OVER HUBBLE |
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The Hubble Space Telescope is launched into space aboard Space Shuttle Discovery.
April 24, 1990
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Spiral Galaxy M100 |
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VISIT
THE HUBBLE TELESCOPE
WEBSITE
BE AMAZED!
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The Hubble Space Telescope rests in the Space Shuttle Discovery’s cargo bay prior to being released into orbit. The telescope stretches five stories tall, and the tubular part of its body is 14 feet (4.2 m) across. Its school bus-size bulk completely filled Discovery’s cargo bay during the trip from Earth to space. |
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HUBBLE'S FIRST IMAGES WERE A DISASTER! |
On the left is one of the Hubble Space Telescopes first images.
Hubble's primary mirror, polished so carefully and lovingly over the course of a full year, had a flaw called "spherical aberration." It was just slightly the wrong shape, causing the light that bounced off the center of the mirror to focus in a different place than the light bouncing off the edge. The tiny flaw — about 1/50th the thickness of a sheet of paper, was enough to distort the view.
As a result, Astronauts and NASA staff spent 11 months training for one of the most complex space missions ever attempted, a mission that would involve five days of spacewalks and repairs.
After the repair mission NASA released the first new images from Hubble's fixed optics on January 13, 1994. The pictures were beautiful; their resolution, excellent. Hubble was transformed into the telescope that had been originally promised, as shown in the image on the right.
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17 YEARS OF DISCOVERIES
After 17 years of opperations The Hubble Space Telescope's images still astound us with their clarity and almost magical complexity.
Below are three of the latest images to be released.
On the left is The Veil Nebula. In the centre, The Carina Nebula. and on the right,
The Crab Nebula
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HUBBLE - MANKIND'S EYE ON THE UNIVERSE. |
Eventually, Hubble's time will end. At some unknown point in the future — around 2013 with the 2008 servicing mission, or earlier without, but Hubble's legacy — its discoveries, its trailblazing design, its success in showing us the universe in unparalleled detail — will live on.
I'll leave you with one last mosaic of Hubble's Legacy to us.
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Copyright © 2007 The Heritage Files all rights reserved Registration No: -272030
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Hubble floats serenely
above the Earth. Free
at last to begin its mission to explore the universe.
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Spiral Galaxy M100 |
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VISIT
THE HUBBLE TELESCOPE
WEBSITE
BE AMAZED!
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