Hubble Space Telescope
HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE
HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE. Although astronomer Lyman Spitzer first suggested the idea of a space-based telescope in 1946, it was not until 24 April 1990 that one was placed in orbit around the earth. Named after the pioneering astronomer Edwin P. Hubble, it promised to overcome distortions caused by the earth's atmosphere. The forty-three-foot-long telescope could look seven times farther into space than the most powerful terrestrial observatories.
Computer problems in 1982 thwarted the $2 billion telescope's initial launching. Rescheduled for October 1986, its launch was again delayed by the tragedy in January 1986 that killed the crew of the space shuttle Challenger. Four years later, the Hubble Space Telescope fi-nally was lifted into space. Two months after the telescope was placed in orbit, scientists announced that its 94.5-inch primary mirror, polished to incredible smoothness, was flawed, resulting in blurred images. Ironically, the telescope was myopic. Investigation showed that engineers easily could have detected this problem prior to launch. Scientists had to delay or cancel experiments.
In December 1993 the crew of the space shuttle Endeavour fitted the telescope with corrective optics and
made other repairs. After this $629 million outer-space repair job, the telescope worked perfectly. It took detailed views of nebulae and star clusters. In October 1994 astronomers announced that data from the telescope showed that the universe was between eight billion and twelve billion years old, younger than earlier estimates by nearly half. Astronomers announced in January 1996 that the telescope was detecting hundreds of galaxies never before seen, which they speculated could be the most distant and oldest galaxies ever observed.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Fischer, Daniel, and Hilmar Duerbeck. The Hubble: A New Window to the Universe. Translated by Helmut Jenkner and Douglas Duncan. New York: Copernicus, 1996.
Peterson, Carolyn Collins, and John C. Brandt. Hubble Vision: Further Adventures with the Hubble Space Telescope. 2d ed. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1998.
BrentSchondelmeyer/a. r.
See alsoChallenger Disaster ; Observatories, Astronomical ; Space Program .