Happy Birthday, Hubble!

Telescope design
Image Source: Hubblesite.org

The Hubble Space Telescope was conceived in 1923, approved by NASA in 1969, and approved by Congress in 1977. Designing and building Hubble was a coordinated effort between NASA Centers and universities, as well as private companies, including Perkin-Elmer Corp. and Lockheed Missiles. It was finally launched on April 24, 1990 and remains in orbit today, 353 miles above the Earth.

The Hubble has a Cassegrain telescope at the front end, followed by several instruments (spectrometers and cameras) that collect data and images.


Image Source: Hubblesite.org

The Hubble continues to marvel us with new data and images. Eventually, it will be succeeded by the James Webb Space Telescope, which will give us a look even farther back in time (to galaxies that are further red-shifted), through infrared imaging and spectroscopy.

Images and content derived from Hubblesite.org


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