Nature likes spirals – from the whirlwinds of a hurricane to the pinwheel-shaped protoplanetary disks around newborn stars to the vast regions of spiral galaxies in our Universe.
Now astronomers are surprised to find young stars spiraling into the center of a massive star cluster in the Small Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way.
NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has detected stars and gas spiraling toward the heart of a massive stellar nursery in the nearby Small Magellanic Cloud. This could provide important clues about how the stars formed when the 13.8 billion-year-old galaxy was only a few billion years old.
The Small Magellanic Cloud, where NGC 346 is located, is only 200,000 light-years from Earth and possesses stellar material with a mass equivalent to 50,000 suns. As a result, stars in the Small Magellanic Cloud are hotter and burn their fuel faster than stars in the Milky Way.
Astronomers utilized the Hubble Space Telescope to study star formation in the Small Magellanic Cloud for 11 years. They found that stars have moved about 320 million kilometers (200 million miles) during that time.
Using the Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) instrument at the VLT, the second team of astronomers found that the stars were spiraling inward, promoting star formation.
Astronomers found young stars spiraling into the center of a giant, oddly shaped stellar nursery called NGC 346. A spiral is the most efficient way to feed star formation from the outside toward the center.
Hubble Spots Spiraling Stars
NGC 346 sits in the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC), a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way, located 200,000 light-years away. The SMC has a similar chemical composition to galaxies found in the younger Universe when heavier elements were more scarce. Because of this, the stars in the SMC burn hotter and run out of fuel quickly. SMC star formation provides insight into how a firestorm of star birth may have created a “baby boom” in the early Universe.
Extraordinarily precise observations were possible only because of Hubble’s high resolution and sensitivity. Hubble’s three decades of observations provide a baseline for astronomers to follow celestial motions over time. Observing long-term changes like this advances our understanding of star formation and other mysteries of the Universe.
The red object you are seeing in this video could be the farthest galaxy found to date. It has revealed some of the most intriguing secrets of the early universe.
Astronomers have found dozens of galaxies that existed at least a billion years after the big bang. Still, the first few hundred million years of the universe remain an uncharted epoch.
One of the most established methods to find distances to deep space galaxies is measuring the amount of redshift. This involves analyzing the spectral lines observed in distant galaxies and comparing them with those we observe on Earth.
Only one galaxy has been spectroscopically confirmed in the era of z > 10. Still, the Webb Space Telescope’s NIRCam instrument has opened a window to the z greater than ten epochs of the cosmos.
A new research paper has been published that reveals two remarkably luminous galaxy candidates between z = 11 and 13, which exist when the universe was just 300 million years old. The stellar mass of these two objects indicates that star formation took place quickly in the early galaxies.
Although the discovery of GLz-13 in the early data release demonstrates the true power of Webb, there is an interesting point to note. The galaxy HD1 has the record for the highest redshift of any galaxy in the first billion years of the universe.
Webb will have to perform a detailed analysis of HD1 and Glz13 to determine an accurate redshift value. If Webb is working at full capacity, hundreds of galaxies will be discovered at such distances within a year.
Launched in 2009, the James Webb Space Telescope will observe galaxies at a distance of 1.5 million kilometers in the infrared. It will also look 2.5 million years into the past to study individual stars in the Andromeda Galaxy, our nearest big galaxy.
Topics:
First full color, science-quality images of JWST
COSMOS-Webb: mapping the earliest structures of the Universe
Star formation in the Milky Way, Large Magellanic Cloud, and Small Magellanic Cloud
Trappist-1: checking the atmosphere of an exoplanet system
Discovering the composition of icy bodies beyond Neptune
During the telescope’s first operational cycle, five scientists will study the earliest galaxies, red giant stars in the disc of Andromeda, star-forming regions in the Milky Way and nearby galaxies, and mysterious icy bodies beyond Neptune’s orbit. The James Webb Space Telescope has released its first images, so now it’s time for science. #JamesWebb#NASA#Space
Space telescopes are like time machines because light takes time to travel. The speed of light means we can look back in time and see what the sun looked like eight minutes ago. A new telescope, the James Webb Space Telescope, has:
Delivered its first, full color, science-quality images
50 successful deployments
Traveled one million miles from Earth
Calibrating and cooling to nearly absolute zero
We have over a year of planned observations, including galaxies as far away as possible, star-forming regions, the Trappist-1 system, and objects orbiting beyond the orbit of Neptune. We hope to uncover the greatest mysteries of the Universe today.
Galaxies and the universe, as seen by JWST
With the James Webb Space Telescope, we’ll be able to see galaxies that are 13.5 billion years old and learn a lot about the early Universe. There are four instruments on the telescope. We will use two of them to look back 2.5 million years and study the structure of individual stars in our nearest large galaxy, the Andromeda galaxy.
JWST will allow scientists to look into massive star-forming regions. In addition, to witness star birth more clearly than ever before.
With the help of the James Webb Space Telescope, scientists can begin to understand the evolution of the Universe. Starting with the first cold gas and dust lying around millions of years after the Big Bang.
Our nearest large galaxy, the Andromeda Galaxy, will be studied using infrared light from the James Webb Space Telescope. The possibility exists to turn back the clock on the physics of our universe if we connect all the dots.
Frequently asked questions
What is an infrared telescope?
Astronomers use telescopes and instruments optimized for infrared light to study the earliest star and galaxy formations in the universe. Unfortunately, Star and planet formation in our local universe occurs in dense, dusty clouds, so they’re not visible to our eyes.
Infrared wavelengths allow JWST to see galaxies that formed early in the Universe and peer into dust clouds where stars and planets are forming.
What is the difference between Hubble and Space Telescope?
Webb’s main mirror measures 6.5 meters, compared to Hubble’s 2.4 meters. As a result, the Webb telescope can gather seven times more light and look deeper into the past. In addition, Webb features cameras that detect infrared or “thermal” radiation. Light normally in visible wavelengths shifts to longer infrared wavelengths that are invisible to us because of the universe’s expansion.
In contrast, the Hubble telescope is in low Earth orbit, where astronauts can visit and fix broken parts or install new ones. As a result, it lived longer than expected.
Webb will use four science instruments to take images and spectra of astronomical objects, most of which are in the infrared range. First, Hubble will study the visible and ultraviolet regions. Then Hubble can see the equivalent of “infant galaxies,” while Webb will see “baby galaxies” because it is an infrared telescope.
We can learn a lot from the early photographs taken by JWST, but what exactly has it taught us? The JWST has released its first images, and they show what it’s capable of. There’s a lot of excitement from astrophysicists surrounding the telescope’s capabilities, and they’re now trying to figure out how to apply it to their research.
Webb will be able to observe planets in or beyond Mars’ orbit, as well as satellites, comets, asteroids, and Kuiper belt objects. Many important molecules, ices, and minerals have distinct signatures at the wavelengths that Webb can detect. Additionally, Webb will monitor the weather patterns of planets and their moons.
Webb’s science operations begin with the release of its first full-color images and spectra, where astronomers will have the chance to observe anything from objects within our solar system to the early universe.
The James Webb Space Telescope is an international program led by NASA with the support of the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency.
How will the James Webb Telescope help scientists?
Scientists will use Webb’s cameras to “time-travel” back to when the earliest galaxies were forming right after the Big Bang.
Webb contains two tools that will allow scientists to unravel the wavelengths of infrared signals from solar systems beyond our planet – intertwining the colors of the infrared rainbow.
Scientists can see the birthplaces of stars with infrared light, which can penetrate through dust better than visible light. This allows scientists to see how stars form in clusters and how planets form around stars.
Scientists use X-ray telescopes to study the physics of black holes. Still, Webb’s infrared instruments will allow them to see the temperatures, speeds, and chemical compositions of the stellar cloaks of black holes.
This question was inspired by Elon Musk’s announcement that he plans to send humans to Mars within the next 50 years. But what would happen if China were to beat him to the punch? Would we ever see Chinese astronauts walking on Mars? What would happen to our world if China were to colonize Mars? And what would happen if China colonized Mars before NASA and SpaceX?
These questions are important because they’re not just hypothetical. They’re real possibilities.
China calls it Mars exploration/immigration, while the United States calls it colonization. These two countries’ space programs are very different. The Chinese program focuses on sending robots to explore other planets, while the American program focuses on settling other planets. #Spacex#Space#Mars
If China were to successfully colonize Mars before NASA and SpaceX, it would change everything. The United States would lose its position as the leader of space exploration. China would become the new superpower in space travel.
And what would happen to our world? Well, let’s take a closer look at these questions.
Can China colonize Mars?
China has already sent its first probe to orbit the moon, but it will take them another decade or so before they are ready for an interplanetary mission.
The Chinese are planning to launch a manned mission to Mars in 2033. They’re currently training astronauts and preparing facilities for habitation.
I could see Mars becoming a collection of smaller countries, each representing a distinct culture. These nations may not always get along with each other, but they’ll still need to work together if they’re ever going to colonize the Red Planet.
Suppose we continue to invest in space technology. In that case, it won’t be long until we send humans to explore our solar system. And when we do, there’s no doubt that China will lead the way.
But this isn’t just about science fiction. We need to prepare ourselves for the future. The Chinese government is investing billions of dollars in space technology, and they’re not stopping there.
As for me, I think/believe that
First, of course, there will likely be a war for control on the surface of Mars, and it’s entirely possible that one nation will win out over another. But even after that happens, the Martian government won’t be able to rule the planet completely. Instead, it will have to work with other governments to ensure its survival.
This is the first operational image taken by the James Webb Space Telescope, depicting SMACS 0723, a galaxy cluster located 4.6 billion light-years from Earth in the constellation of Volans.
Designed for infrared astronomy. It was launched in December 2021 and has been in a halo orbit around the second Sun – Earth Lagrange point since January 2022.
In the image, we see the galaxy cluster SMACS 0723 as it appeared 4.6 billion years ago. Many of the cosmological entities ave undergone a notable redshift.
The six bright spikes surrounding bright light sources are a result of diffraction from the mirror’s edges. The mirror’s inner and outer rims are an exact hexagon and a rough hexagon, respectively.
The spikes created by the struts holding the secondary mirror are much less pronounced than the spikes created by the rim.
The JWST’s first full false color image of the universe was revealed to the public on 11 July 2022 by U.S. president Joe Biden.
Deepest infrared image yet from NASA’s Webb
Infrared images captured by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope are the deepest and sharpest yet. This image is approximately the size of a grain of sand held at arm’s length, a tiny sliver of the vast universe.
Webb’s NIRCam has brought distant galaxies into sharp focus, and its Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) has captured the colors and diffraction spikes of stars as they appear brighter at shorter wavelengths. As a result, researchers will soon begin to learn more about the galaxies’ masses, ages, histories, and compositions.
Webb’s instruments captured images and spectra of 48 galaxies in a field of view of 13.1 billion light years, revealing details about each galaxy. The data also demonstrated how detailed galaxy spectra will be with Webb’s observations.
NASA is also leading the James Webb Space Telescope with its partners, ESA and CSA. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center manages the mission for the agency’s Science Mission Directorate.
The galaxy cluster SMACS 0723 is one of the first targets to be imaged by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope. It lies in the southern constellation Volans and acts as a gravitational lens, bending the light of distant galaxies.
The JWST image of SMACS 0723 shows thousands of distant galaxies in unprecedented detail, including the faintest objects ever seen in the infrared.
How far away is SMACS 0723?
An image taken from the Southern Hemisphere, which covers only a tiny area of sky, shows SMACS 0723, a galaxy cluster in the constellation of Volans located at a distance of 4.6 billion light-years from Earth.
How old are the images from the James Webb telescope?
In this photo, you can see the very faintest, tiniest blips of light that represent galaxies as they existed over 13 billion years ago, near the beginning of time. This light has been traveling through space ever since then.
Since the universe has expanded much more than 13.7 billion years ago, the JWST should be able to see between 100 and 250 million years after the big bang.
Let’s talk about how we build things in space. If we are going to become a truly space-faring civilization and a multi-planetary species, then we need to expand our manufacturing infrastructure beyond the surface of the Earth.
Take Mars; For example, if we’re going to build a Mars colony or eventually something on the scale of Elon Musk’s Mars city, we can’t just ship that all over from the Earth.
We’ve got to build it on Mars. And traditional manufacturing doesn’t translate so well to an autonomous habitat factory millions of miles away on an alien planet. It also doesn’t work very well for manufacturing on the moon or trying to build in Earth orbit.
3d printing is the way to build things in the space age. No other process is more adaptable to new and unpredictable situations than 3d printing or additive manufacturing. And today, we’re getting into why that is and what we will use this technology to build as we expand humanity into outer space. This is the Space Race.
The most compelling reason 3D printing is so important for the space age is that it allows you to quickly and rapidly modify a design on the fly. What we mean by that is that you can change the design of your 3d printed objects as many times as you want, as often as you want, without having to physically change your printing machine.
This is not the case with traditional manufacturing. For example, you’ve probably heard the term retooling, and it refers to every time a company changes the design of their product, the machines in the factory have to be retooled; which means the tools have to be physically changed to accommodate the new product change.
But in the world of 3D printing, if you want to change your design, you simply change the program code that controls the printer.
While the printer itself doesn’t need to be modified at all, you’re probably familiar with the standard consumer-grade 3d printers that you can get on Amazon for a few hundred bucks.
Even the most basic machines can create a plastic model of a ninja turtle or a baby Yoda or whatever the kids are into right now.
I don’t know, but you can also get the same cheap plastic toy at a dollar store, which will come from a factory where they use injection molding.
This allows them to rapidly mass produce a giant quantity of a particular product very quickly, but every time the trend changes, they want to make a new kind of toy.
They need to make a new mold while back at home. You can make a new style of toy every time you print, and all that needs to change in between is the software code that controls the 3d printer.
What company is 3D printing Rockets?
People might not realize that this same technology can be scaled up to the degree where we are literally 3d printing spaceships. This idea is being pioneered right now by a company called Relativity Space, who have a fully 3d printed rocket called the Terran One.
Relativity Space aims to bring Silicon Valley innovation to the slow-moving dinosaur that is the aerospace industry by 3d printing their rockets.
Relativity claims that they use 100 times fewer individual parts than a traditional rocket while achieving ten times faster production speed, and that’s great.
But their primary advantage with this process is really the flexibility that comes from having no fixed tooling, a simplified supply chain, and the ability to optimize their product through compounding iteration.
And what we mean by iteration is that every time they build something, they can check for defects and test it for function, and then make adjustments to their code based on those findings and try again, and then they compound those improvements.
So every time they build and test, and iterate, the product gets better and closer to perfection.
Relativity use a process of sensor and analytics driven machine learning during the manufacturing process, so the machine can actually identify defects in the product as it is being produced and instantly compensate in real time.
To accomplish this, Relativity uses a machine that they call the Stargate.
It is the world’s largest metal 3d printer using a custom designed aluminum alloy to form the body of the rocket and even the rocket engines as well. Time Magazine named the Stargate one of the best inventions of 2021.
Thanks to Relativity’s use of autonomous robotics and artificial intelligence, the Taran 1 rocket will be launched for the first time this summer. So, we’ll have to wait and see how well this works in the real world, but this is more about the basics and what they mean for the future of space manufacturing, and everything seems pretty stable.
So how does this apply to our original point about building a Mars colony?
There are going to be two major advantages. One is in the shipping or transport of material from Earth to Mars. We have constraints on the weight and volume of stuff that we can fit into a rocket, even a gigantic rocket like the Spacex Starship.
And we want to make the absolute most that we can out of every trip because we’re talking about a six to eight month long journey just to arrive. and even if the starship is able to make it back to Earth at some point, we won’t be seeing it again for at least a couple of years. So let’s say we want to ship pre-fabricated habitation modules to Mars.
Something like what Matt Damon was living in that’s going to be a big hollow object and maybe it partially collapses for transport or something. However, there are still going to be empty voids, and anyone who ships things for a living would tell you that the last thing you want to do is ship air.
Giant soup pots
That’s your product. Like big Italian grandma soup pots. You put one pot in a box and you ship those boxes out to customers. How many of those can you fit into a delivery truck? Not very many are you getting the most out of that truck’s capability for transporting mass?
Not at all. But what If you were to be selling cast iron pants? They’re significantly more dense, take up less volume, and you can fit significantly more pans into the same truck. You’d probably hit the truck’s weight limit before filling it to the brim with cast iron. Same deal with a rocket ship.
Suppose we ship one giant 3d printing machine along with the tightly wound spools of printing material. In that case, we are maximizing density and using the full lift capability of your super heavy rocket. Then by using the same space occupied by one prefabricated habitation module, maybe we can send the raw materials to build three or four.
Our second big advantage with 3d printing comes back to the word iteration
Let’s say we design and build what we think is the perfect Mars habitation module. Then, we ship it to Mars, unload, set it up, and it doesn’t work the way we thought it would.
Just for an example, let’s say that we go to pressurize the habitat and it just explodes.
For whatever reason, I don’t know why, but boom, It exploded. Now What? Well, we’d have to try again here on Earth, build another one with a new iteration, and then ship that to Mars and hope that it doesn’t also explode.
But if we’re using advanced ai driven machine learning 3d printing processes like the Stargate and Relativity Space, then we can just analyze what went wrong, pivot on the fly, and instantly try again.
How 3D printing helps space exploration?
And we don’t even necessarily need to 3d print a Mars colony or a moon base using metal like they do with the rocket. Instead, we could probably use a lighter weight plastic material, or there are even ideas to use regolith as a printable building material.
So the surface layer of dust and rock on the moon and Mars is called regolith. We know what regolith on the moon is composed of from sample return missions, and we have a pretty good idea what makes up the surface of Mars.
We will know for sure in a few years when the first samples being collected right now are returned to the Earth. Still, we’re pretty sure that we can actually transform the dust and rock on Mars into a kind of pliable concrete by combining it with a biopolymer.
This could come from a plant-based plastic that could be grown and produced on Mars, Or there has even been some talk of using human bodily fluids and urine to create the necessary product, which sounds wacky.
Again, I don’t know. But, again, this is what the very smart people are saying that we need a biological additive to make the concrete material harden, so we’ve just got to trust them on that one.
What will feature additive manufacturing in space?
Anyway, the point being that with this additive manufacturing technology established on a place like Mars or the Moon, we don’t have all of the answers. So on day one, we get the luxury of being able to iterate through trial and error in the real world situation. And obviously, we don’t want to be making errors while there are human beings up there.
So we get the added bonus of an automated process we don’t need to retool, we just push a new software update to the machine and this is also simplified that just a few automated robots that we deploy to Mars maybe a handful of those Teslabot Androids that Elon Musk is working on.
We can build and test and establish an entire colony before any long-term human residents of Mars begin to arrive.
And simplifying the manufacturing process like this opens up so many opportunities for what we can deploy in space.
Imagine a 3d printing machine in orbit around the Earth
All of the things that we could build up there without having to worry about gravity or being limited by what we can fit inside a rocket’s cargo fairing.
You probably know about the James Webb Space Telescope and how it had to be folded up so tightly to fit inside the rocket, and then how it had to unfold itself out again in deep space.
We probably can’t 3d print a giant telescope like that, but we definitely can print much less complex, but equally gigantic or even more gigantic things in space.
For instance, a space station that’s just constantly printing new modules and components and expanding and iterating and improving.
Or 3d printing an entire interstellar spaceship that could set off from orbit on its way to the far reaches of Jupiter or Saturn.
The possibilities here are basically endless, and that’s what makes this one of the most fun technologies to think about. So let us know what you can dream up to 3d print in outer space: A ship, a colony, an orbital station.
What exactly is China’s space program? Is it really worth investing in? What does it mean for the future of space exploration?
China has been developing its space program since the 1970s and is currently the third-largest economy in the world. In recent years, they’ve become the leading nation in terms of both scientific research and technological innovation.
#Spacex#Space#mars. I am pleasantly surprised that someone is finally looking into Chinese rocketry! I knew they were the first to “try” to launch a human, but I didn’t know the details.
China’s space program is growing at a rapid pace. They’re building rockets that can launch satellites into orbit and even land them on the moon. This is a huge step forward for their country and a big deal for the rest of the world.
China’s Space Rockets
Did China launch a new rocket? China launched its first satellite into orbit on 21 June with a Kuaizhou-1A rocket using a transport launch vehicle. The satellite is in orbit 278 kilometers above the Earth.
ExPace launched a satellite named Tianxing 1 on 22 June with a Kuaizhou-1A rocket. CASIC, a subsidiary of CASIC, launched its own rocket on 23 June using a Long March 2D rocket.
China launched three Yaogan 35 satellites into orbits with an average altitude of about 500 km and an inclination of 35 degrees. The satellites are believed to be intended for military use.
Boosting overall space capabilities with solid rockets
Solid-fuel rockets are being developed by Chinese state-owned enterprises. As a result of increasing launch demand. This will enhance China’s space power capabilities and contribute to a broader strategy.
Chinese engineers are developing a rocket that can reach orbits three times larger than China’s biggest rocket.
The Chinese space agency is building larger rockets and modifying the Long March 8 launch vehicle for sea launches.
The Haiyang seaport is attracting various aerospace companies and promoting an industrial chain with a planned $119 million investment from RSpace.
The Shandong Liquid Sea Launch Project is a crucial endeavor for Shandong and has support from the city and province. In addition, several companies are involved in the project, including CALT, a state-owned launcher designer and manufacturer.
China launched five satellites from a sea platform on April 30, setting a new distance record for China’s offshore launches. It plans to launch three sea-based missions in 2022.
Sea launch capabilities might reduce the dangers to the civilian population. Therefore, a new launch complex is being developed on the island of Hainan.
China has developed several launch facilities to meet the growing demand for rocket launches, including Haiyang for sea launches and Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center for solid and liquid commercial rockets.
Let’s talk about how we can use the moon for a greater purpose in the decades and centuries to come. We should build spaceships on the moon, use them as humanity’s first interstellar spaceport, and use it to finally gain access to our solar system.
The Moon is our best candidate for humanity’s first spaceport because it offers favorable conditions for building and launching spacecraft. The resources available on the Moon will be an important factor in the success of a spaceport.
We need rare earth metals to make important things like:
Magnets
Lasers
Battery electrodes
Capacitors
Telescopic lenses
Fiber optic cables
Hard drives for computers
Helium-3 left over from cosmic rays could be used to fuel a nuclear reaction on the Moon. Allowing us to generate large amounts of electricity. The Moon has almost everything we already have here on Earth. But Earth is one of the worst places in the Solar System to send a rocket into space.
The perfect environment for spaceships
We should build spaceships on the Moon and use them as a gateway to the rest of our solar system, we should use the Moon as a gateway to the rest of our solar system.
Some valuable metals on the lunar surface, such as titanium and aluminum, could be used to make a spacecraft shell.
Spacecraft could use helium-3 left behind by cosmic rays to generate electricity on the Moon. Still, the long day-night cycle would make solar power almost useless.
The Moon is much easier than Earth for launching and landing spacecraft.
We can build spacecraft in space, but we can’t make a spaceport on the Moon because the Moon has low gravity. So we can’t build a Moon spaceport without first building infrastructure on the Moon.
The latest Hubble discoveries are astonishing! Just look at this newly formed giant exoplanet from the constellation Auriga, which is nine times the mass of Jupiter. How about this breathtaking image of a head-on collision between two galaxies known collectively as Arp 143?
They passed through each other, causing a gigantic triangular firestorm with thousands of stars bursting into life. But the telescope could capture much bigger events. Its images changed astronomers’ view of many secrets of the cosmos. Hubble even became a time machine, allowing scientists to see into the past of our universe.
What other astonishing images did the telescope take? And how did a single image taken by Hubble change science once and for all?
To allow us to see deep space, the creators of the Hubble Space Telescope [HST] had to work hard. The need for an orbital observatory was discussed back in the seventies. Scientists wanted to get clearer images of deep space than those taken from Earth. Unfortunately, our atmosphere makes observations difficult by absorbing and distorting light. We’re going to show you some more incredible images, but first… a little quick history of Hubble.
In 1977, the U.S. Congress authorized the construction of a space telescope with the help of NASA. They decided to name it after the outstanding astronomer Edwin Hubble.
The most difficult thing was to make the huge observatory mirror. It was constructed of heat-resistant glass with incredibly thin but durable coatings – a layer of aluminum 65 [nm] nanometers thick protected with a magnesium fluoride layer 25 [nm] nanometers thick.
The entire space telescope turned out to be nearly the size of a school bus. Its primary mirror has a weight of 827 kilograms [1,825 lbs] and has a diameter of 2.4 meters [7.8 ft]. This mirror captures light from a space object and reflects it onto a secondary mirror 0.3 meters [12 inches] in diameter. This smaller mirror was placed in the optical tube.
It reflects light through a hole in the main mirror, forming an image in the telescope. From there it is sent to scientific instruments. At the time of Hubble’s launch, there were six such instruments. These are wide-angle and planetary cameras equipped with a set of 48 light filters to highlight light spectra. The wide-angle one has a large field of view, and the planetary one made it possible to greatly increase the observation points.
Another device, a high-resolution spectrograph, was designed to operate in the ultraviolet range. With its help, the telescope can see dim objects captured by a special camera. The High-Speed Photometer [HSP] can observe variable stars and other objects with varying brightness.
And the Fine Guidance Sensors [FGS] record changes in the position of the object. Scientific instruments were located in the tail section of the HST.
The Hubble Space Telescope is equipped with six gyroscopes, four reaction wheels, two main computers, two wing-like solar arrays, and four antennas. It consumes an average of 2,100 watts of power per day and orbits the Earth every 95 minutes.
Astronomers were thrilled for Hubble to be ready for the launch, but when the Space Shuttle Discovery took off with the telescope, the images were blurry. Spacewalking astronauts fixed the telescope during four servicing missions.
Hubble has been scanning the Universe for over 30 years, and scientists have transformed its images into color.
Hubble Ultra-Deep Field image
In 1995, astronomers used Hubble to study a piece of dark sky over the constellation Ursa Major. They found over 1,500 galaxies at various stages in their evolution, including some that were born during the infancy of our universe.
This is how the Hubble Deep Field was created. But it didn’t end there. In 2004, based on the first version, the Hubble Ultra-Deep Field image was made, containing an estimated 10,000 galaxies. The snapshot contains galaxies of various ages, including the most distant red dim galaxies. Scientists believe they were born during the infancy of our universe when it was just about 800 million years old.
In 2012, astronomers unveiled the Hubble eXtreme Deep Field, which was assembled by combining 10 years of the telescope’s data.
The Hubble Ultra Deep Field is an image of a small area of space in the constellation Fornax, created using Hubble Space Telescope data from 2003 and 2004. It contains about 5,500 galaxies, including many faint galaxies that are one ten-billionth the brightness of what the human eye can see.
Hubble’s two premier cameras captured 2,000 images of the same field of sky over 50 days to create the Hubble Ultra Deep Field (XDF). The XDF allows scientists to explore further back in time than ever before.
