Hubble Space Telescope

05.12.2023

Hubble Space Telescope , Daily Current Affairs , RACE IAS : Best IAS Coaching in Lucknow 

  Why in the news?

Recently, the Hubble Space Telescope has been put into safe mode, as NASA has halted operations.

Important points:

• Hubble automatically entered safe mode on November 23 when one of its three gyroscopes gave a faulty reading.
• Those three gyroscopes measure its turn rate and are critical to the system that makes sure the telescope is pointed in the right direction.
• NASA is working to restart the Hubble Space Telescope after it went into safe mode due to a malfunction in its gyroscope.
• In the 2009 Space Shuttle service mission, six new gyros were installed, with only three currently operational, including one that had irregularities.

About Hubble Space Telescope:

• The Hubble Space Telescope was launched on April 24, 1990.
• The Hubble Space Telescope is a large, space-based observatory of NASA and the European Space Agency.
• The Hubble telescope was developed by the American space agency 'NASA' in collaboration with the European Space Agency.
• It was placed in its orbit with the help of the American spacecraft Discovery.
• The Hubble Space Telescope has been in operation for decades, but its technology is aging and is likely to be permanently offline.
• It was named 'Hubble' after American astronomer Edwin Ponwell Hubble.
• It is the only telescope designed for servicing in space.
• The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) selects Hubble's targets and processes the resulting data, while Goddard Space Flight Center controls the spacecraft.

Features of Hubble Space Telescope:

• The Hubble Space Telescope is the first astronomical observatory in orbit around Earth with the capability to record images in wavelengths of light spanning from ultraviolet to near-infrared.
• The instruments on the Hubble Space Telescope observe primarily in the ultraviolet and visible parts of the spectrum. It can observe only a small range in the infrared, from 0.8 to 2.5 microns.
  • Whereas, the James Webb Space Telescope, with its four scientific instruments, observes primarily in the infrared range and provides coverage of light with wavelengths from 0.6 to 28 microns.
• Hubble orbits about 340 miles (547 km) above Earth's surface.
• Hubble is the first space-based observatory specifically designed for servicing while in orbit.
• To date, the telescope has made more than 1.5 million observations, collecting data and providing views that astronomers were unable to capture from the ground.

Objective:

• Its main objective was to explore the universe in visible, ultraviolet and infrared wavelengths.

Structure of Hubble Space Telescope:

• Hubble has a 2.4 m (7.9 ft) mirror covered with a layer of aluminum and magnesium fluoride.
• It is always kept at 21 degrees centigrade.
• Its four main instruments see in the ultraviolet, visible, and infrared regions of the electromagnetic spectrum.

Instruments of the Hubble Space Telescope:

• When it was launched, HST had five scientific instruments:
  • Wide Field and Planetary Camera (WF/PC),
  • Goddard High Resolution Spectrograph (GHRS),
  • High Speed Photometer (HSP),
  • Faint Object Camera (FOC)
  • Faint Object Spectrograph (FOS)
• aftermarket equipment
  • Advanced camera for services.
  • Cosmic Origins Spectrograph.
  • Fine Guidance Sensor.
  • NICMOS / Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS, discontinued since 2008)
  • STIS / Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS)

Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3)