40 Very Interesting Facts about the Hubble Telescope

Interesting facts about the Hubble telescope are full with valuable information. The Hubble Space Telescope was named after Edwin Hubble, an American astronomer whose discoveries helped scientists expand their perspective of the cosmos beyond our own galaxy, interesting facts about the Hubble telescope. Hubble discovered that Andromeda, previously thought to be a nebula, was really a distinct galaxy hundred of thousands of light-years distant from our Milky Way while working at the Mount Wilson Observatory in 1923.

In 1929, he contributed to the debunking of the “static universe” idea by discovering evidence that galaxies move apart from one another at a consistent pace. Although Hubble died in 1953, the Hubble Space Telescope has now confirmed and fine-tuned many of his hypotheses, interesting facts about the Hubble telescope.

Hubble’s early beginnings stretch back to 1946, more than a decade before NASA was founded. In that year, astronomer Lyman Spitzer Jr. published a seminal article on the benefits of a space-based observatory. He claimed that an in-orbit telescope could see the skies without being obstructed by the Earth’s atmosphere, which may distort pictures, interesting facts about the Hubble telescope.

Spitzer also played a key role in the development of NASA’s Orbital Astronomical Observatories, a series of four unmanned satellites launched between 1966 and 1972, and he worked relentlessly to convince the government to build a larger and better space telescope. However, the project’s enormous expenditures proved to be a major stumbling point, and it wasn’t until 1977 that it was completed, interesting facts about the Hubble telescope.

In 1986, the space shuttle Challenger exploded on liftoff, killing seven crew, devastating the young Hubble program. In the aftermath of the disaster, NASA grounded its space fleet, leaving Hubble—which relied on the shuttle for transportation and maintenance—without a ride into orbit, interesting facts about the Hubble telescope.

Scientists took advantage of the extra time by improving the sensitivity of the telescope’s sensors and fine-tuning the ground control software, but the extra years drove up expenses, interesting facts about the Hubble telescope. The project was seven years behind schedule and more than $1 billion over budget when the space shuttle Discovery eventually launched in 1990 with Hubble stowed inside its cargo hold.

Interesting facts about the Hubble telescope

1. Even though he already had a degree in mathematics and astronomy, Edwin Powell Hubble studied law in Oxford, England, and practiced it for a year after promising his dying father.

2. Hubble has been around since the 1940s.

3. Lyman Spitzer proposed the notion of a “Large Space Telescope” in a paper he published in 1946 about the benefits of studying astronomy from space. In 1974, the first set of scientists began work on the Large Space Telescope.

4. Hubble circles Earth at a height of approximately 340 miles/547 kilometers above the surface.

5. In its 30 years in service, it has orbited Earth 175,200 times.

6. Hubble doesn’t have any thrusters. It employs Newton’s third law to shift angles by spinning its wheels in the opposite way. Turning 90 degrees takes 15 minutes.

7. Hubble is powered by the Sun using solar cells on each wings array. When Hubble is in Earth’s shadow, some of that power is conserved.

8. After its launch, the Hubble Space Telescope has been upgraded five times.

9. The Hubble Space Telescope, which orbits far above the Earth, provides a clean view of the cosmos free of the atmosphere’s blurring and absorbing effects. Hubble detects ultraviolet light, which is absorbed by the atmosphere and visible only from space, in addition to visible and near-infrared light. During its stay in space, the telescope sent hundreds of thousands of cosmic pictures to Earth.

10. The speed of the telescope’s orbit is 17,500 miles per hour. That’s almost 5 miles every second!

11. Hubble has returned almost 1 million observations since its debut.
At 43.5 feet, the telescope is approximately the size of a school bus.
Hubble has returned photos of galaxies that are further away from us than we have ever seen before.

12. Hubble is fueled by the sun. Solar cells in each wing-like array turn the Sun’s energy into power. Some of the electricity is used to power the telescope, while the rest is saved in onboard batteries for when Hubble is in Earth’s shadow.

13. It was launched on April 24, 1990, and deployed the next day.

14. When NASA scientists first saw Hubble’s pictures in 1990, they were dismayed to learn that its main focusing mirror had been polished to the incorrect specs.

15. Five space shuttle trips have upgraded the telescope during the last 25 years. While the mirror needed to be fixed, Hubble was also built to accommodate new technology, like as cameras.

16. Visible, near-infrared, and ultraviolet light are all detected.

17. The Hubble Space Telescope is so precise that it can latch on to a target without moving more than 7/1000th of an arcsecond, which is the width of a human hair viewed from a mile away.

18. You can enlarge some of Hubble’s most famous photos. On high-resolution pictures, have a closer look at your favorites.

19. With Space Telescope Live, you can see where Hubble is looking at any given time.

20. The Moon is the nearest object Hubble has seen.

21. Hubble has been around since the 1940s! Lyman Spitzer proposed the notion of a “Large Space Telescope” in a paper he published in 1946 about the benefits of studying astronomy from space. In 1974, the first set of scientists began work on the Large Space Telescope. Learn more about Hubble’s timeline.

22. Hubble circles the Earth at a speed of 17,500 miles/27,300 kilometers per hour. One journey around the Earth takes around 95 minutes to complete.

23. One of NASA’s four Great Observatories is Hubble. The Compton Gamma Ray Observatory, Chandra X-ray Observatory, and Spitzer Space Telescope are the other three.

24. The Moon is the nearest object Hubble has seen.

25. Icarus, the furthest star Hubble has discovered, is roughly 5 billion light-years distant. A light-year is approximately 6 trillion miles (9 trillion kilometers) in length.

26. Hubble has provided scientists with images of galaxies at various phases of history, including galaxies that existed when the cosmos was still young, allowing them to better understand how galaxies originate. It discovered protoplanetary disks, which are collections of gas and dust that form around young stars and are thought to be the birthplace of new planets. It revealed that huge stars disintegrate in far-off galaxies, resulting in gamma-ray bursts – bizarre, tremendously strong blasts of energy. These are only a few of its numerous ongoing contributions to astronomy.

27. Hubble can detect light in the visible, near-infrared, and ultraviolet spectrums.

28. Hubble must be quite precise. It has to concentrate in less than 7/1000th of an arcsecond. From a mile away, that amounts to approximately the width of a human hair!

29. One of NASA’s four Great Observatories is Hubble. The Compton Gamma Ray Observatory, Chandra X-ray Observatory, and Spitzer Space Telescope are/were the other three.

30. Hubble circles the Earth at a speed of 17,500 miles/27,300 kilometers per hour. One journey around the Earth takes around 95 minutes to complete.

31. Hubble’s numerous findings include determining the age of the universe to be around 13.8 billion years, which is far more precise than the previous estimate of 10 to 20 billion years. Hubble was instrumental in the discovery of dark energy, a mysterious factor that causes the universe’s expansion to speed up.

32. Hubble has taken images of the three kinds of galaxies: elliptical, spiral, and irregular galaxies.

33. Hubble is still up and running! Jupiter’s most recent pictures were taken in 2019.

34. Hubble assisted in the discovery of dark energy, a factor that accelerates the expansion of our universe.

35. Any astronomer can request time on the Hubble Space Telescope from anywhere in the globe. Since the telescope’s inception, around 20,000 separate observations have been made.

36. The galaxy MACS0647-JD, the furthest galaxy Hubble has discovered, is 13.3 BILLION light-years distant.

37. Hubble acts in accordance with specific instructions from the ground. Technicians may communicate with the telescope via the antennae, instructing it what to do and when to do it. Four antennas receive and transmit data to a constellation of satellites, which then connect with Earth.

38. The telescope is a tool that may be used by anybody interested in astronomy. Any astronomer in the world can submit a proposal to seek time on the telescope — either alone or in collaboration with other observatories in orbit and on the ground — as well as assistance in accessing Hubble’s vast data archives. Astronomers fight for access to Hubble Space Telescope.

39. NASA detected a fault in the primary mirror after the launch in April 1990. The defect was small, approximately 1/50th the diameter of a human hair, yet it was large enough to for Hubble’s eyesight to be distorted. To remedy for the defect, astronauts installed corrective optics during Servicing Mission 1 in December 1993. Hubble’s eyesight was corrected by the optics, which worked like eyeglasses.

40. Hubble’s body, as well as each science equipment, contain a number of computers and microprocessors. There are two major computers in the system. One communicates with the instruments, sends orders and other data, and transmits data; the other is in charge of pointing, gyroscopes, and other system-wide tasks.

We hope you have enjoyed these interesting facts about the Hubble telescope! Learn more about Hubble’s Mision.

40 Very Interesting Facts about the Hubble Telescope

Interesting facts about the Hubble telescope

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