Just a quick link to the Boston Globe's Big Picture who took on the most recent Hubble servicing mission. Here's a sample.
I just love the Earth in the background on this one.
The were some tense moments, stuck pieces, but in the end it looks like it went well. Although we can't be sure everything is 100% for a few weeks until everything is put through its paces, initial indications are good. All the instruments are communicating and sending back what is expected at this point.
Be sure to check out all the spectacular pictures of this mission.Reprinted with permission from the Half-Astrophysicist Blog.
Posts
5 comments:
I have been following this and all the beautiful pictures the paper down here has been posting. Wondered when you would get around to your posts.
Still haven't picked up that telescope...but I will get around to it soon...I promise!
Yeah, I've been following the story in the news, too, and wondering when hale would post. That was a real labor of love done by the astronauts servicing the telescope.
It aways amazes to see pics of the shuttle launch...
Hale, is this sort of bitter-sweet for you, knowing that the Hubble will only last another five or so years?
Well, a little, Beejay. But we have bigger telescopes coming. I suspect with adaptive optics technology, most future optical astronomy will be ground based. The James Webb Space Telescope will be 6.5 meters and is scheduled to launch in 2014 (I am betting at least two years worth of delays) and it will be mainly an infrared telescope. What concerns me more is that Hubble is the only thing up there doing work in the ultraviolet part of the spectrum and we will lose that since no UV telescopes are on in the pipeline. You have to do UV astronomy in space since our atmosphere absorbs most of the UV.
Post a Comment