The
Hubble Space Telescope (HST) is a telescope orbiting the Earth 370 miles
above the atmosphere. It is a space observatory in the Great Observatories
program.
Named after the scientist Edwin Hubble (who discovered the redshift with distance), it was launched into orbit in 1990 as a project of the NASA with the cooperation of the European Space Agency.
Initial optical errors of the Hubble Space Telescope were corrected in 1993, and high-quality imaging began in 1994.
The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) is projected to continue operating until 2009, when funding is expected to be moved to the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).
Working
outside the atmosphere has advantages because the atmosphere obscures images
and filters out electromagnetic radiation at certain wavelengths, mainly
in the infrared. By carrying diverse instruments and dividing time between
many astronomical projects from all over the world, the Hubble Telescope
has contributed to an extraordinary variety of astronomical discoveries.
A common misconception is that the principal benefit of observations from orbit is high-resolution -- in fact the sensitivity to faint objects is the biggest advantage, and ground-based interferometric observations of bright sources have much higher resolution than Hubble Space Telescope (HST).
HST is located about 600 kilometers (373 miles) above the ground, orbiting the Earth every 97 minutes.
Hubble Telescope masses about 11,000 kilograms (12 tons), is 13.2 meters (43 feet) long, and has a maximum diameter of 4.2 m (13 feet, 9 inches).
Two solar panels provide electricity, which is mainly used to power the instruments. Four large flywheels are used to orient and stabilize the telescope. The telescope's infrared camera and multi object spectrometer also need to be cooled down to minus 180 degrees Celsius for operation.
![]() Sombrero (spiral) Galaxy, M104, NGC 4594. 28 million light-years away. |
![]() Reddish Arcs Mark Trail of Small Asteroid |
![]() Whirlpool (spiral) Galaxy (M51) and Companion Galaxy |
![]() The 'doomed' star Eta Carinae 8,000 light-years away, 10 billion miles diameter. |