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Spaced Out: What is Hubble
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This article informs information about Hubble, where it is, how far it is, what it does, and more.
| The Hubble Space Telescope orbiting Earth in May 2009 NASA/ESA Credit: https://www.businessinsider.com.au/hubble-telescope-galaxies-photo-legacy-wide-field-deep-universe-2019-5?r=US&IR=T |
The Hubble Space Telescope is a spacecraft which is the size of a school bus that travels 8 kilometres per second that takes some of the coolest images in the universe. Hubble is around 550 kilometres above you.
Dr Jason Kalirai, an astrophysicist says, "Hubble Space Telescope is the most important tool that we have for understanding our universe and what our place within it is."
From space, Hubble can see planets, stars, and galaxies much clearer than telescopes on the ground, it can see as far as 13.4 billion light-years away (one light-year is 9.6 trillion kilometres). Its images have changed the way we think about viewing the stars.
No one really knows who discovered the telescope, but in 1610, Italian astronomer, Galileo Galilei was first to make his own homemade telescope up towards the stars. Galileo Galilei invented the compass and the thermometer. Then, around 300 years later, astronomer Edwin Hubble used a large telescope to discover entire galaxies.
Dr Noel Green, an astrophysicist says, "The telescope itself is named the Hubble Space Telescope after Edwin Hubble, and one of these iconic images is of Edwin Hubble himself looking through one of these telescopes that you can almost mistake for the Hubble if it were in space."
The Hubble Space Telescope was launched on 24 April 1990. It completes its orbit around Earth every 95 minutes.
Hubble's cameras used to take black and white pictures. Later, experts added different colours to these pictures.
Instead of an eyepiece, Hubble uses digital cameras. This camera can record visible light, ultraviolet light and even infrared light. Visible light is part of the wave spectrum that can be seen by the human eye. Ultraviolet light comes from the sun and is invisible to the human eye. Infrared light is invisible to human eyes, but people can feel it as heat.
"Today, demand for the Hubble Space Telescope is at a record high. Anybody in the world can write a proposal to use Hubble, and we're receiving more than a thousand proposals every year from scientists wanting to tackle tough questions about the universe. Hubble is always doing the best science that's out there."
Scientists look forward to using Hubble to solve the mysteries of outer space.
Three facts you learnt
- Hubble Space Telescope can see as far as 13.4 billion light-years away or 9.6 trillion kilometres away.
- Hubble was launched on 24 April 1990 and takes around 95 minutes to orbit Earth.
- Hubble's camera can record visible light, ultraviolet light and infrared light. Visible light is part of the wave spectrum that can be seen by the human eye. Ultraviolet light comes from the sun and is invisible to the human eye. Infrared light is invisible to human eyes, but people can feel it as heat.
This post is based on the National Geographic Kids article, Spaced Out: What is Hubble and National Geographic Kids's video, What is Hubble? | Spaced Out.
