Long have we have looked to the stars, be it for navigation, spiritual guidance or shear awe. But, believe it or not, the wonders we see in the night sky with our naked eyes are only a glint of the universe’s enormity, and, as said by Julianne Dalcanton in her 2009 article 18 Years of Science with the Hubble Space Telescope, our hazy atmosphere even limits our ground-based instruments as well. (Dalcanton) Both the incapability of our eyes and our local telescopes hindered astronomy for millenniums, but such things were surmounted through the advent of space telescopes, whose pioneer is the long-lived, Hubble. Named after the astronomer, Edwin P. Hubble, the Hubble Space Telescope is humanity’s greatest eye to deep space and has made an incredible
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The Hubble was the first space-based telescope to be built and successfully put into orbit.
A. The specs behind the Hubble’s construction are evidence of what humans can accomplish in the name of discovery. According to data compiled on Hubble’s official website in a table entitled Hubble at a Glance…
1. It cost about $1.5bn to launch alongside the shuttle Discovery on April 24th 1990. (Evans)
2. It is almost 44 feet in length and weighs around 24, 500 lbs. (Evans)
3. It has two 25 ft. solar panels that provide the power source for the telescope’s functions. (Evans)
4. It carries out its extraordinary work while orbiting the Earth at around 17,500 mph and making a complete revolution in 97 minutes. (Evans)
B. The Hubble has made incredible achievements in the name of astronomy.
1. It has made over a million observations since the beginning of its operation in 1990. (Gutro)
2. Thanks to four subsequent repair missions where a faulty main mirror was replaced ad new components were retrofitted, the telescope has endured much longer than originally anticipated. (Williamson)
II. The Hubble’s sightings are unprecedented windows into our universe that help us to better understand science and …show more content…
Over 4000 astronomers have utilized the telescope over its 25 years of operation. (Gutro)
B. Hubble’s legacy is also to take shape in the form of its forthcoming successor, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). (Williamson)
1. The James Webb will be far more ambitious, with an almost $9bn total projected cost for its manufacturing, launch and operations. (Williamson)
2. It is scheduled to be launched on the Ariane 5 Shuttle sometime in October 2018. (Williamson)
3. While the Hubble remained in a 550 km low orbit, the James Webb will orbit 1.5m kilometers from Earth, allowing for an even greater span of observation. (Williamson)
Conclusion: As the generations pass and technology advances, there is no doubt that the ambitions of mankind will send them deeper into the great expanse. Without question, NASA will continue to pursue uncharted territory and make new discoveries that will topple what we know now, but whatever future accomplishments lay ahead, they will be built on the data collected and research conducted using the technology of today, the solid foundations lain by great machines like humanity’s greatest eye, the
The Hubble was the first space-based telescope to be built and successfully put into orbit.
A. The specs behind the Hubble’s construction are evidence of what humans can accomplish in the name of discovery. According to data compiled on Hubble’s official website in a table entitled Hubble at a Glance…
1. It cost about $1.5bn to launch alongside the shuttle Discovery on April 24th 1990. (Evans)
2. It is almost 44 feet in length and weighs around 24, 500 lbs. (Evans)
3. It has two 25 ft. solar panels that provide the power source for the telescope’s functions. (Evans)
4. It carries out its extraordinary work while orbiting the Earth at around 17,500 mph and making a complete revolution in 97 minutes. (Evans)
B. The Hubble has made incredible achievements in the name of astronomy.
1. It has made over a million observations since the beginning of its operation in 1990. (Gutro)
2. Thanks to four subsequent repair missions where a faulty main mirror was replaced ad new components were retrofitted, the telescope has endured much longer than originally anticipated. (Williamson)
II. The Hubble’s sightings are unprecedented windows into our universe that help us to better understand science and …show more content…
Over 4000 astronomers have utilized the telescope over its 25 years of operation. (Gutro)
B. Hubble’s legacy is also to take shape in the form of its forthcoming successor, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). (Williamson)
1. The James Webb will be far more ambitious, with an almost $9bn total projected cost for its manufacturing, launch and operations. (Williamson)
2. It is scheduled to be launched on the Ariane 5 Shuttle sometime in October 2018. (Williamson)
3. While the Hubble remained in a 550 km low orbit, the James Webb will orbit 1.5m kilometers from Earth, allowing for an even greater span of observation. (Williamson)
Conclusion: As the generations pass and technology advances, there is no doubt that the ambitions of mankind will send them deeper into the great expanse. Without question, NASA will continue to pursue uncharted territory and make new discoveries that will topple what we know now, but whatever future accomplishments lay ahead, they will be built on the data collected and research conducted using the technology of today, the solid foundations lain by great machines like humanity’s greatest eye, the