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“Beyond the Milky Way”
“The History of the Hubble Telescope”
By: Steven Radziul
DeVry University

Since the Age of Man and Woman, We have been staring up into the sky, wondering clearly what is out there. The stars and planets have always been our close neighbors, from navigation, to philosophy and even religion, the stars and planets have always been our friend. Man has stood to the highest peak staring out into the sky, wondering clearly to see what is out there. He has invented instruments for which to see further and further, wanting to learn about himself. Since the earliest days of Man, We have strived to see higher, to see more, to see deeper, and to finally see farther. The newest discoveries started with the time of Galileo, and the first “modern” telescopes, pointed up to the skies, just to see what is out there. Since then we have strived to improve our abilities to see way out there. The latest discoveries and breakthrough in discovery through the use of telescopes, is that of the space telescopes themselves. One of the famous space based telescopes, as well as one of the more famous projects put out by NASA, is that of the “Hubble Space Telescope”. Learning about the worlds around us, allows us to learn about our own “Man Kind”. We are “star stuff”, we are made of the stuff which stars are made from. From the gases, to the elements, what is out there, we can find here. As We explore the world around us, we begin to learn more about our own existence, how we live, where we came from, and perhaps where we are going in the near future. Technology developed in space exploration, also helps us to learn about our own selves. Achievements which we discover out there, help us to gain achievements down here on our own planet, from geology, to biology, to even medical. Perhaps even someday, we will find another planet for which we can live on, and who even knows, maybe even people who are like us, and those aliens everyone keeps talking about. This is why space exploration is so important. Man’s greatest achievement in life, is pure knowledge. it is what gives us power, and understanding ourselves, our neighbors, and beyond the milky way, helps us to truly grow and expand as people. In the year of the 1990, came the birth of the Hubble Space Telescope, a telescope for which orbits the earth every ninety seven minutes, at approximately five miles per second. This is enough to cross the entire United States, in approximately 10 minutes. The Hubble Telescope hovers approximately 353 miles, above the surface of the earth, solving problems for which the earth based telescopes battle, for which will be discussed later in this paper. The Hubble Telescope is a mirror based telescope, using mirrors within the telescope to reflect light. It is classified and known as a “Cassegrain Reflector”, which takes light into the telescope, and the light is focused on the telescope’s main primary mirror, bouncing the light off the primary mirror, to secondary mirrors, which then reflect the light back through a hole in the center of the primary mirror, for which the light enters the telescope’s scientific instruments, which include cameras, and other recording devices, which give us the images, and instrument readings down to earth. Mirror based telescopes, work by collecting more light than the human eye can actually capture on its own, the larger the mirror, the more powerful the telescope. Hubble’s Primary mirror is 94.5 inches (or 2.4 meters) in diameter. It is quite smaller than most ground based mirrors in similar telescope configurations, which can grow to be almost 400 inches in length and higher. However, because of Hubble’s distance above the ground, passing our atmosphere, and out in clear space, gives it, it’s incredible power over other ground based telescopes. Now, you might ask yourself, why exactly is a space telescope so important, and able to be more powerful than that of a telescope on the ground? The one thing for which a telescope on the ground faces, that which the Hubble Telescope, and other space based telescopes do not need to deal with, is that of the atmosphere. Have you ever looked up to the sky, and clearly wondered why stars seem to twinkle at night? This is because of “atmospheric distortion”, which are shifting air pockets in the earth’s atmosphere, for which distorts light as it comes shooting from the sky, down to us at earth. The second reason why space telescopes work more efficiently, than ground based telescopes, is that our atmosphere will partially or fully block certain waves, which are actually harmful to us, but in blocking these different types of energy waves, we don’t get critical information to allow us to discover and learn about stars. Some of these wavelengths, which our atmosphere blocks are radiation, ultraviolet light, gamma and x-rays. Using different types of filters, and lenses within space based telescopes, we can not only detect these types of energy waves, but we can also see them much more clearer, and examine them more closely, before the atmosphere begins to distort and block them. This gives us information, which we were never really able to get to before. Even if new age ground based telescopes can help to battle these problems, it is not as near efficient as that of the onboard sensors on space based telescopes. The Hubble Telescope also comes packed with all sorts of different scientific instruments, which are used to make all sorts of different scientific discoveries. These onboard sensors, computers, and other types of instruments, allows us to get all sorts of different calculations. The latest instrument added to Hobble, is known as the “Advanced Camera for Surveys” or ACS. According to the Website, this piece of equipment is used to sense and detect visible light. It is designed to study various different act ivies , by mapping various distributions of dark matter, and detecting distant objects in the universe. It is also used to search for massive planets, and study the evolution of clusters in our galaxy. This helps us to look past our own milky way, into the horizon of the universe and beyond. One of the next instruments on the Hubble Telescope is used to detect infrared light, which we feel as heat. This instrument allows us to see things which are hidden behind interstellar dust, like stellar (star) birth sites, and gaze deep into space. This instrument is known as the “Near Infrared Camera and Multi –Object Spectrometer” or NICMOS for Short. The next piece of equipment on the Hubble Telescope works just like that of a prism, breaking apart light which comes in from the cosmos, into a rainbow of colors, providing us with critical information about this light such as, temperature, chemical compositions and breakdowns, density and even motion of various wavelengths of light. This piece of equipment is known as the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph or STIS for short. Unfortunately, this instrument has ceased to work in 2004, and is scheduled for maintenance in the next mission to repair the telescope. The next instrument is known as the Wide Field and Planetary Camera (2) or WFPC2. This instrument is behind most images for us to see. It has over 48 different filters onboard, which are used to produce various different photographs These filters allow us to see different things, from different wavelengths and spectrums of light. Finally, the last big piece of equipment which is in the Hubble Telescope, known as the Fine Guidance Sensors or FGS for short, Hubble’s navigator, keeping Hubble pointed in the right direction, and provides key information about guidance and positioning and distance. Now every bit of these pieces of equipment, are powered by nothing but the sun’s energy. Large solar panels on Hubble, collect the sun’s energy waves, and convert them into electricity for which is used to power each of Hubble’s Instruments. The Hubble Space Telescope is open to just pretty much any astronomer. The images and information which is brought back can be used by pretty much anyone. The information brought back is just vital for us to learn about what is beyond our own milky way, and even what is about our own territory in space. The space telescope is open to use by anyone, however time is limited. Anyone in the world may make requests of the telescope, and those requests are looked over by the committee which controls the telescope, the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt MD, or the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore MD. The Hubble Telescope delivers enough information to fill approximate 18 DVDs a day. This information is available on the internet for any astronomy fan to download, from the images, to the calculations and various data provided by the scientific equipment onboard. Unfortunately, if something goes wrong, as it has, it is not entirely easy to just go about and fix it. A mission into space needs to be setup, which is governed by the people at NASA. Crews of Men are launched into space, to do critical repair work on the Hubble Telescope. The first mission into space, was on December 2nd, 1993, sending men and woman, trained for 11 months to carry out the repairs. Upon the launch of the telescope, there came problems which were just not thought about. The mission involved five days of spacewalks and repairs to get the telescope working 100%. In 1997, another mission was conducted to repair broken instruments, and replace small components to keep the telescope operational. After that, the next mission to repair the telescope, was planned for 2006, however, was canceled due to the demise of the Columbia tragedy. Finally, NASA Administrator Mike Griffin has planned a new mission on October 31, 2006. However the Hubble Telescope’s life will soon come to an end. After the servicing scheduled for this year, its components will have become too degraded and broken down, that it would not be feasible or costly effective to release another service repair mission for the telescope. Hubble’s life will then simply left to float about into space, until it sails into our atmosphere and breaks apart, or a robotic mission might be scheduled to go up there and bring it down, crashing it into our oceans, to be collected and put on display to honor its use. Already in the works is the JWST, the James Webb Space Telescope, planned to be sent up even higher, to stare even deeper into the universe, and the galaxies beyond. The Hubble Telescope has been a part of our generation and apart of many of our lives, every day sending down pictures of the heavens beyond earth. To quote the Website Here with even in its last moments and beyond Hubble will remain a legacy. “Its Discoveries, its trailblazing design, its success in showing us the universe in unparallel detail, will live on. Scientists will rely on Hubble’s revelations for years as they continue in their quest to understand the cosmos, a quest that has attained clarity, focus, and triumph through Hubble’s rich existence”. The Hubble is an extension of our own selves, created by our hands, launched into space, by our science and our technology, and has become our eyes into the cosmos, our eyes beyond that of the Milky Way. Man will continue to look skyward, and push to reach deeper and deeper out there. Perhaps one day, we will find life in the universe, but till then we need to simply keep looking up to the heavens and beyond.

WORKS CITED:
The Telescope - Hidden Essentials. Retrieved June 2, 2008, from HubbleSite
Web site: http://hubblesite.org/the_telescope/hubble_essentials/

Okolski, Gabriel A Brief History of the Hubble Space Telescope. Retrieved June 3, 2008, from National Aeronautics and Space Administration Web site: http://history.nasa.gov/hubble/index.html