What is the Hubble Space Telescope?
The Hubble Space Telescope is a large space telescope launched by NASA in 1990. Orbiting above the atmosphere, it has taken some of the most famous and detailed images of the universe.
Hubble was carried into orbit by the Space Shuttle Discovery on April 24, 1990. Being above Earth's atmosphere, which blurs and blocks some light, lets it take extremely sharp images. It sees mainly visible and ultraviolet light, with some near-infrared. It is named after astronomer Edwin Hubble, who discovered that the universe is expanding.
Soon after launch, scientists found that Hubble's main mirror had a tiny flaw that made images fuzzy. In 1993, astronauts on a shuttle mission installed corrective optics, fixing the problem. Five servicing missions in total upgraded the telescope with new cameras and instruments.
Its discoveries
Hubble helped measure the age of the universe, showed that its expansion is speeding up and revealed thousands of galaxies in images such as the Hubble Deep Field. Its pictures, like the Pillars of Creation, became famous worldwide. It is a joint project of NASA and the European Space Agency.
Did You Know?
Hubble travels around Earth at about 27,000 kilometers per hour and has made more than 1.6 million observations.