Telescope Persuasive Speech

Edwin P. Hubble was a ground-breaking American astronomer who revolutionized our knowledge of the universe and established the foundations for all of modern cosmology. At the beginning of the 20th century, most astronomers thought that our Universe was confined to the Milky Way Galaxy alone. However, Edwin Hubble's inspiration and perseverance in astronomical research proved otherwise. He discovered the existence of other galaxies and created a systematical classification for all galaxies. Additionally, he mathematically confirmed that his newly discovered universe was expanding. Hubble's astronomical triumphs earned him worldwide scientific honors and pioneered our modern cosmology.

The Hubble Space Telescope has been sent into space to take pictures of our universe. Hubble has made more than 1.2 million observations since its launch on 1990. The Hubble weighs 27,000 pounds. It does not travel, it just takes

According to a pie chart called, “Federal Spending for United States - FY 2015” from the NASA Data Charts, the budget for space in 2015 is not a percentage significant enough to have its own section. Instead, it is a subsection of the heading Other Spendings, which is given 2% of the federal budget. Also, in the Neil deGrasse Tyson article, it is said that the American government only gives a 7/10 cent of a tax dollar to space exploration (Tyson 2). He gives a brilliant resolution by saying, “ I’d prefer that it were more, perhaps 2 cents on the dollar.” even though we used to “. . . peak NASA spending amounted to no more than 4 cents on the tax dollar”. One of the most important technological advance was the invention of the Hubble Space

Hubble’s revolutionary work includes finding a constant relationship between galaxies’ distance and redshift. This helped prove that the universe is expanding. He also created a classification system that was created for galaxies. The system he created is called the Hubble Sequence, which many researchers have used for the past decades.

That the universe extended beyond the Milky Way was already widely surmised, and this discovery didn't change much. The revolution came when Hubble compared these newfound distances with the velocities of galaxies, which can be determined by measuring their color spectra. To his surprise, he found the two to be nearly linearly correlated, leading to the conclusion that every galaxy is receding from every other galaxy, and the universe as a whole is expanding.

Our lab assignment this week was to research the Cassini/Huygens mission currently being conducted by NASA and the European Space Agency. After learning about the mission, we need to list some of the information it has provided us. As well as discuss what we have learned about Saturn, its rings and the moon system. Choose at least one picture and explain it. Although, Saturn has always been my favorite planet, I didn’t know much about this mission. The lab proved fun and interesting to learn about all the many discoveries of Saturn.

From this technological race came the “Space Race” that led to mankind’s first steps towards exploring the universe beyond Earth. The first move of the Space Race occurred when the Soviet Union launched Sputnik, the first satellite to successfully travel in space, on October 4, 1957. The satellite orbited the Earth for more than ninety days, and its sole capability was to emit a beeping noise only audible on certain radio frequencies (“National Debate Topic…”). The first U.S. satellite, named Explorer 1, was sent into orbit just three months later on January 31, 1958. From these technological advances developed new, more challenging goals such as sending a man into space, which called for the national funding of a program that could push the United States into the forefront of the fight. Thus, NASA was created by the National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958, which President Eisenhower signed on July 29, 1958 (“Creation of NASA” 261). This moment did not officially begin the NASA however; the program truly began in 1915 with the creation of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). The stated goal of the Committee was to “…supervise and direct the

Source Information: : A Brief History of NASA, Type: Web Article, Author(s): Steve Garber, Roger Launius, URL: http://history.nasa.gov/factsheet.htm, Date Used: Nov 22 2015

The news came as an ugly surprise to the Americans, who were not expecting the Soviets to beat them to space, but the United States responded quickly with a project of their own. Less than a year after Sputnik’s launch into space the US launched their own satellite, Explorer 1 into the atmosphere. Later that year, on the 29th of July, president Eisenhower signed off on the creation of National Aeronautics and Space Administration or NASA. For the years following the launch of Explorer 1 the Soviets and Americans would send many satellites and probes into space, each more impressive than the last. On May 25th, 1962, President John F. Kennedy addressed congress, attempting to boost the funding for NASA.

Space exploration has exploded in the past 56 years. From the first successful satellite mission in 1961, to the first mission space walk in 1969 a to the first time lettuce was grown and eaten in space in 2015. These are just the beginning steps towards potential space exploration and advancing technology to the maximum.

Space exploration has come a long way from the moon landing of July 20, 1969.

The Hubble Space Telescope is one of the most amazing machines in orbit right now. In 1946, an astrophysicist named Dr. Lyman Spitzer proposed that a telescope in space would reveal better and clearer images that are even far from earth than any ground telescope. This idea was very extravagant because no one had yet launched a rocket into outer space. As the US space program excelled quickly over the early years, Spitzer lobbied NASA and Congress to develop a space telescope. In 1975, the European Space Agency and NASA began to develop the telescope that would change astronomy for ever. In 1977, Congress approved funding for the development of the space telescope and NASA named Lockheed Martin Aerospace Company as the prime contractor

As Hubble age, he was unable to use the telescope any more. He didn’t have the strength or energy to stay in the cage for long periods of time. So, he sent Sandage to carry out tasks for him. Everyday Sandage would be given coordinates or jobs by Hubble. When Sandage was done recording he data of his work, he would go back to Hubble and give him the results (Overbye 22). This shows how devoted he was to his research, even if he was unable to handle the job due to old age he compromised. All of Hubble’s work and Sandage work was done on the 100-in telescope, yet Hubble was still able to find the Andromeda Nebulae’s distance for the Milky Way and study red shifts. While the 200-in. telescope was being built, Hubble asked if he could use the telescope for half of its available time. This shows his devotion because he wanted to use the telescope in order to further enhance his research (17).

As stated on nasa.gov, “Hubble has made more than 1.2 million observations since it’s missions began in 1990.” Hubble has also expanded astronomers knowledge about the universe and space as a whole. The most famous observation made by this telescope was that of galaxies beyond our own, Milky Way, and discovering that the universe is much larger than further predicted. Before this telescope, ground based telescopes could only see into our galaxy and could not reach any further. Therefore, it was thought that the Milky Way was the only galaxy included in space and the universe. Due to the fact, Hubble’s telescope, expands and allows for the study across a wider light spectrum, astronomers can see beyond further predicted. Another famous observation, studied by astronomers was that of the study of uncharted territories of the cosmos. As proposed on hubblesite.org, “It became increasingly clear to astronomers that Earth’s atmosphere distorted starlight, which made it difficult to obtain razor-sharp views of celestial objects. The idea of placing a telescope in space, above Earth’s turbulent air, had been kicked around for several years. But scientists pondered how to transport a telescope into space.” That was until, Hubble’s creation that displayed imagery of the cosmos. Once again it had accomplished a feat that had troubled ground based telescopes. In

The space race did not start as one would expect with the respective American and Soviet space agencies. But rather it began with the German V2 missile launches towards the end of World War 2. The V2 missile