Astronomy

On April 24th, eighteen years ago, astronauts aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery deployed the Hubble Space Telescope. This marks beginning of the new era of the space research. Hubble’s discoveries have transformed the way scientists look at the universe. Its ability to show the universe in unprecedented detail has turned astronomical conjectures into concrete certainties. It has winnowed down the collection of theories about the universe even as it sparked new ones, clarifying the path for future astronomers.

Among its many discoveries, Hubble has revealed the age of the universe to be about 13 to 14 billion years, much more accurate than the old range of anywhere from 10 to 20 billion years. Hubble played a key role in the discovery of dark energy, a mysterious force that causes the expansion of the universe to accelerate.

Hubble has shown scientists galaxies in all stages of evolution, including toddler galaxies that were around when the universe was still young, helping them understand how galaxies form. It found protoplanetary disks, clumps of gas and dust around young stars that likely function as birthing grounds for new planets. It discovered that gamma-ray bursts — strange, incredibly powerful explosions of energy — occur in far-distant galaxies when massive stars collapse. And these are only a handful of its many contributions to astronomy.

Eventually, Hubble’s time will end. After more than 18 years in orbit, Hubble’s components will slowly degrade to the point at which the telescope stops working. The next service mission for the telescope will be carried out by Atlantis space shuttle mission, scheduled for launch on August 28, 2008. The mission will replace batteries, replace all gyroscopes, and install Wide Field Camera 3 and the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph. This should extend Hubble’s life into at least 2013, until it replaced by its successor, a brand-new generation of space telescope, named James Webb Space Telescope.

Happy birthday Hubble!

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