There is no other planetary telescope that has brought humanity a key understanding of the beauty in our universe than the one and only Hubble telescope. The Hubble telescope a planetary telescope with many achievements, and facts. As you read this article, you will learn some interesting facts about the Hubble telescope that orbits Earth.
::: Why Is The Hubble telescope Called Hubble? :::
This is a question that many people have, and want to know why it is called the Hubble telescope. Well the Hubble name is not a scientific term! Though it is attributed with someone import in the field of science. And that is Edwin Hubble.
Edwin Hubble an American astronomer was a doctor who confirmed that the universe is indeed expanding. Edwin Hubble who was born 1889 and lived to 1953, is an important part of what has become the big bang theory. The big bang theory being that the universe started with literally a big bang (13.7 billion years ago), and expanded to what we have today.
::: Key Dates For The Hubble telescope :::
The Hubble telescope was launched on 24 April 1990. The cost was $1.5 billion US dollars, and required the help of hundreds of people to make it so.
Having launched the Hubble telescope on the 24 of April 1990, the Hubble telescope was deployed the next day on April 25 1990. The designated amount of time for the mission was 20 years; which makes the Hubble telescope to come to decommissioning about the year 2010.
The Hubble telescope also has had some important servicing missions. Servicing mission 1 began on December 1993. The second servicing mission - servicing mission 2 began on February 1997. The third servicing mission - called Servicing mission 3A, began on December 1999. And the last servicing mission for the Hubble telescope was on February 2002, and was called Servicing mission 3B.
::: Some More Amazing Facts About The Hubble telescope :::
The Hubble telescope moves at a speed of 5 miles per second, around the Earth! It only takes the Hubble telescope 97 minutes to make 1 revolution around the Earth. And the Hubble telescope has a speed of 17,500 mph! Nothing on land and sea can approach those speeds, currently that we know of.
The Hubble telescope can look at everything, within its limitations, but it can not view the Sun and Mercury.
The first image that the Hubble telescope took a picture of, was a star cluster. On the 20th of May 1990, less than a month of being deployed, the Hubble telescope took a picture of Star Cluster NGC 3532. The NGC 3532 star cluster got its nickname "The Wishing Well Cluster" because the twinkling stars in this Open Cluster resembles silver coins shimmering at the bottom of a Wishing Well.
The Hubble telescope has given us so many beautiful pictures of the objects in our universe. With so many discoveries, it is a shame that the Hubble telescope will be decommissioned over the next few years. However, NASA is planning on a new project that will surpass the Hubble telescope, though this is one that will not be taking optical pictures.
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