The Hubbub About Hubble
© Dina Ely
Hubble has helped astronomers discover new galaxies, peek at black holes, and look at nebulae, among other things. A nebula is the birth place of a star. Nebulae are usually very beautiful to look at. They are filled with swirling gas and clouds that emit all sorts of colors.
The Hubble telescope has looked as far as 10-15 billion light years away. Though it sounds funny, a "light year" is a measurement of time. The mathematics are pretty complex, but light years get their name from how long it takes for light to travel through space. Suffice to say, 10-15 billion light years is far, far away!
The telescope orbits Earth at a very fast speed. Hubble can complete one rotation around the earth in a little over one and a half hours! That breaks down to 275+ miles per minute!
How well Hubble is able to see deep into space depends on if its gyroscopes are all working. The gyroscopes help point Hubble towards a target. Without all its gyroscopes, Hubble's pictures become fuzzy. Hubble also has a lens, which is like its eye, and an aperture door which is like its eyelid. Want to learn more about the parts that make up the giant telescope? Check out NASA's Hubble site for kids here.
Because Hubble isn't on Earth, fixing and upgrading the telescope is no small task! It requires a full load of astronauts to ride the space shuttle from Earth to Hubble, and then travel outside the shuttle to work on Hubble.
The telescope began its work in April of 1990. Now it has only seven years left to perform its duties in space. In 2010, it will be taken from orbit and retired. Technology here on Earth is getting better and better, and Hubble just can't keep up! Hubble has served us well, though, and by 2010, it will deserve its rest. Plans are afoot to launch another more advanced deep-space telescope in 2011.
If you are like me and you think Hubble is pretty neat, the link below leads to a very cool project idea from NASA itself: Make your own hand-held Hubble!
http://hubblesite.org/fun_.and._games/ha...
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