Hubble Space Telescope Views Solar System with Sharp Clarity

NO OTHER invention or tool used in astronomy has advanced our knowledge of the universe as much as the telescope. Invented in the early 1600s, the telescope enabled early astronomers to extend our vision and knowledge of the heavens.

While ground-based telescopes transformed early astronomy, the views were limited by the Earth's blurring atmosphere. As telescopes grew in size, they were located on remote mountaintops to minimize impacts from the atmosphere's obscuring effects, but the atmospheric limitations still remained to some degree.

This changed in 1990 when the Hubble Space Telescope was deployed above the Earth's atmosphere via the space shuttle Discovery. While there have been other orbiting observatories, the Hubble has truly changed our view of the universe as no other telescope before it.

Early in its life, the Hubble suffered from faulty optics, which limited its usefulness. The problem was corrected with a very successful servicing mission in 1993 by the astronauts aboard the space shuttle Endeavor. The new "eyeglasses" cleared the Hubble's flawed vision, and astronomers and the public were quickly amazed by the results. Since that time, the Hubble has been rewriting the astronomy textbooks.

Though it is not the largest telescope ever built, the Hubble's location 380 miles above the Earth's surface enables it to view the universe with unprecedented clarity as it orbits our planet once every 96 minutes. It has captured spectacular views of stars being born in clouds of gas and dust and has also imaged exploding stars at the end of their lives. It also has viewed the planets in our solar system with exquisite clarity, far beyond the capabilities of ground-based instruments.

Some of the Hubble's most spectacular photos have captured the public's imagination. They have graced magazine covers and computer monitors as desktop "wallpaper." One particular photo of an object called the Helix Nebula was e-mailed across the Internet. The spectacular photo shows the colorful outer layers of a dying star being ejected into space in a final burst of energy, a fate similar to what might happen to our own sun billions of years from now.

This is just one of many spectacular images the Hubble has snapped during its mission. You can view some of the best shots by going to hubblesite.org. A servicing mission to replace several critical components on the Hubble was scheduled for this month, but technical issues will probably delay it until sometime in early 2009.

Once the Hubble is finally serviced, it will be able to carry on its important work for several more years, peering into the far reaches of the universe where humans have never gazed. When the Hubble's mission finally comes to a close, it will be replaced by an even more powerful instrument known as the James Webb Space Telescope.

It will have a larger collecting area than the Hubble, with more sensitive sensors. It will be placed in an orbit far beyond the moon so that the light of the sun, moon and Earth do not interfere with its observations. The new space telescope undoubtedly will, like its trailblazing predecessor, open new chapters on our mysterious universe.

OCTOBER SKIES
Jupiter remains the dominant object in the evening sky. It will be near the moon during the evenings of Oct. 6 and 7.

Saturn will be near the moon during the morning of the 25th. Through a telescope, Saturn's rings appear only a few degrees from edgewise.

Venus climbs a bit higher in the evening sky this month and can be seen near the thin crescent moon about 45 minutes after sunset on Oct. 31, just in time to greet trick-or-treaters.