The Hubble Telescope-Our window to space

The Hubble Telescope is probably one of the most important inventions in the field of space exploration, that has helped unravel many mysteries of our universe. Here is a low down of the Hubble...

Launched in 1990 Hubble is one of NASA's most successful and long-lasting science missions.

The telescope was named after American astronomer Edwin Hubble. 

The Hubble Space Telescope is a type of telescope that uses mirrors and lenses to capture and focus the light that it picks up from the various objects in our universe. 

NASA and the European Space Agency sent it out to space because Earth's atmosphere can distort the things that telescopes can see, so from on orbit, Hubble can see much clearer and farther than a similar-sized Earth-based telescope.

It has beamed hundreds of thousands of images back to Earth. Hubble transmits about 120 gigabytes of science data every week. That's equal to about 3,600 feet (1,097 meters) of books on a shelf.

Its gaze has helped determine the age of the universe, the identity of quasars, and the existence of dark energy.

Hubble Can't Observe the Sun or Mercury, which is too close to the Sun.

The Hubble Telescope is 43.5 feet long and 14 feet wide. It weighs 24,500 pounds and cost $1.5 billion initially.

The Hubble Telescope receives its energy from the sun through two 25-foot solar panels while orbiting about 353 miles above Earth.

The telescope is expected to remain operational until 2014, about 24 years after its launch. It will then be replaced with the James Webb Space Telescope.

I have some beautiful images from the Hubble Telescope that I have put up on the Hubble Images page. Check it out !!

If you would like to know more about this amazing telescope, you may visit the official hubble site http://hubblesite.org/