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What Is The Hubble Telescope

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Seeing the Unseen: The Hubble Telescope
The universe is a vast and complex system that has fascinated astronomers for as far back as mankind can remember. Astronomers and scientists alike have imparted a common goal and that is to see as far into the cosmos as possible and shed light on some of universe’s great mysteries. Technology has allowed great advances in space exploration and given mankind the tools to be able to view the space in ways that were never thought possible. One such advancement was the Hubble Telescope which was launched in 1990 yet the brainchild of decades of research and composition. Now celebrating its twenty-fifth anniversary, the Hubble Telescope has a rich history utilizing years of investigation and hard work.
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The Hubble Telescope, a Cassegrain reflector, utilizes mirrors to reflect and concentrate light (from the Sun) throughout its structure and to its internal instruments. Hubble completes a revolution around the Earth every 97 minutes at a rate of five miles per second and as it spins its mirrors capture light which is used by its imaging devices to create observations. The major selling point for the Hubble telescope project and what would be its greatest asset is its ability to produce clear and concise images of space that was impossible from ground level. One of the biggest obstacles in observing space from the ground level is Earth’s atmosphere which can distort the clarity and light coming in from space. If you were to sit at the bottom of a pool and look up through the water, images would be inaccurate however once you come out through the surface the images around you would be clear (Invisible Universe Revealed). This is the same hindrance that applies to viewing space through Earth’s atmosphere which utilizing the Hubble telescope in space set to eliminate. Unfortunately, the images produced from Hubble’s initial launch were blurry which sent its panel into a panic as they scrambled to come up with a solution. The primary mirror in the Hubble Telescope had a flaw known as spherical aberration in which it had been polished …show more content…

Thanks to the Hubble the universe is estimated to be about 13 to 14 billion years old and its evolution, along with numerous scientific articles, is more accurately calculated based on the data provided by telescope. The amount of discovery based on the observations made by the Hubble Telescope since its inauguration have made it one the most important observatories in astronomy. This legacy will continue past its retirement with Hubble’s tenure providing the foundation for future space

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