Hubble Space Telescope

Prelims - Current events of national and international importance

Mains (GS-III) - Awareness in the fields of IT, Space.

Why in news?

The Hubble telescope recently completed 35 Years of Cosmic Exploration.

• Hubble telescope is the first dedicated space based telescope system that is named after astronomer Edwin Hubble.
• Launched on – April 24, 1990.

The US astronomer Lyman Spitzer first proposed the idea of the Large Space Telescope in the 1940s.

• Joint mission – Between NASA and European Space Agency (ESA).
• ESA contributed 15% of the cost in exchange for 15% of observation time.
• Launch was originally planned in 1986 but it delayed to 1990 due to technical difficulties and the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster.
• Aim - To observe and study the universe, particularly in visible, ultraviolet, and infrared wavelengths, from a vantage point above Earth's atmosphere.
• Orbital location - Hubble orbits Earth at an altitude of about 569 km (Low Earth Orbit).
• Observational range – This device can analyse frequencies of light from the ultraviolet to the infrared.
• Renewable telescope – One of the pioneering aspects of the Hubble Space Telescope is the fact that it was designed to be serviced in space.

Scientific Achievements

• It has observed approximately 52,000 stellar objects through 1.6 million observations.

It helped to determine the universe's age (13.8 billion years) by identifying over 800 Cepheid variable stars in 24 galaxies.

• It contributed to creating a 3D map of dark matter.
• Confirmed the existence of supermassive black holes at the centers of numerous galaxies.
• It discovered two additional moons of Pluto (Nix and Hydra).
• It is the first telescope to study the atmosphere of an exoplanet (HD 209458-b/Osiris).
• It observed seasonal changes on Pluto's surface.
• It helped to estimate the mass of Eris, the solar system's heaviest dwarf planet.

Current Status

• Originally expected to operate for 15 years, but has been functioning for 35 years.
• Transmits approximately 150 GB of data weekly.

Reference

The Hindu| Hubble’s 35-year journey