The Space Shuttle Atlantis launched just a few hours ago from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center on mission STS-125; repair and upgrade the Hubble Space Telescope (HST).
After the Columbia accident NASA demanded that the ability to evacuate to the International Space Station (ISS) was a necessity for any Shuttle mission.
Because of the differing orbits of the ISS and the HST, Atlantis would be unable to dock at the ISS should it run into difficulties. As a result this mission, also known as HST-SM4 (Hubble Space Telescope Servicing Mission 4), has been on hold since 2005.
Astronauts will conduct a series of spacewalks to repair malfunctioning gyroscopes on the HST which have left astronomers unable to train it on targets in the sky.
About HST
The Hubble Space Telescope was launched in 1990, named for the American Astronomer Edwin Hubble.
The HST orbits beyond earth’s atmosphere to prevent distortion and has allowed astronomers to see further into space in greater detail than ever before.
HST has a main mirror and 5 other instruments including a spectrograph for ascertaining the chemical composition of stars, a spectrometer for peering through dust clouds and an advanced camera for mapping dark matter.
Atlantis will use it’s robotic arm to catch the 11 ton, 16 metre long space telescope as the two orbit at a height of 600km above the earth.
Blurred Vision
Soon after HST’s launch in 1990 it was discovered that the $1.5 billion space telescope had blurry vision due to a defect on the 2.4 metre wide mirror. The HST’s mirror, almost 8ft in diameter, was not perfectly formed, it bulged by a fifth of the thickness of a human hair.
Despite the embarassment, NASA managed to design and install a giant contact lens which rectifies the light beam reflected off the mirror. This enhancement was called COSTAR (Corrective Optics Space Telescope Axial Replacement) but will be removed on this mission as, over time, the HST’s replacement parts have been manufactured to jointly compensate for the defect.
NGC 6543
This is a image from the Hubble Space Telescope of NGC 6543, a planetary nebula better known as the Cat’s Eye Nebule.
Planetary Nebula are formed as gasses are gently ejected from stars much like our own as they begin to fizzle-out.
v383 Monocerotis
This HST image shows a red supergiant shrowded in a cloud of dust like a giant eyeball.
The elements being burnt by a star determine it’s apparent colour. Red giants are red because they have burnt their supply of hydrogen (which gives the normal yellow colour) and have begun to burn Helium.
Leyton Jay World News astronomy, hubble space telescope, nasa, shuttle
