SPACE

SATELLITE
HUBBLE

Rome, 2010
The History of the Hubble Space Telescope
 How the Hubble Came to Be
 1923- A space observatory was proposed by the Hermann Oberth,
 1962 - a National Academy of Sciences study group firstly recommended
the development of a large space telescope as goal of space program.
 1968 and 1972 - were lunched the first two successful NASA satellites
designed for observing the stars.
 1973 - NASA selected a team of scientists to establish the basic design of
such a telescope and its instruments.
 NASA assigned responsibility for design, development, and construction
of the space telescope to the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville,
Alabama.
 1975 - The European Space Agency got involved with the project and it
agreed to furnish the solar arrays and one of the scientific instruments.
 Marshall selected two different contractors from Connecticut and
California to build the Hubble Space
 1981 – 1985 were completed the precision-ground mirror and the
assembly of the entire spacecraft was completed
 1985 - The Space Telescope Operations Control Center was estabelished
as the ground control facility for the telescope.
 October 1989 - The telescope was shipped at Kennedy Space Center in
Florida.
 April 24, 1990 - was launched aboard the STS-31 mission of the Space
Shuttle Discovery
 Within a few months, however, a flaw was discovered in Hubble's main
mirror which significantly reduced the telescope's ability to focus.
 December 2, 1993 - the STS-61 crew launched on Space Shuttle
Endeavour for an 11-day mission with a record five spacewalks planned.
 February 1997 - astronauts installed two new instruments -- the STIS and
NINCMOS
 November 1999 - were installed the Hubble Advanced Camera for
Exploration.

How it works
Every 97 minutes, Hubble completes a spin around Earth at the speed of 8 km/s. As
it travels, Hubble's mirror captures light and directs it into its several science instruments.
 Hubble is a type of telescope known as a Cassegrain reflector.
 it is a combination of a primary concave mirror and a secondary convex mirror.
 Hubble's primary mirror is 2.4 m in diameter, which is relatively small but its
Hubble's location beyond the atmosphere gives it remarkable clarity.
Wide Field Camera 3(WFC3)
 is expected to become Hubble's main instrument.
 has two “channels”
  studies nearby galaxies, bursts of star formation and distant galaxies
The Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS)
 is the most sensitive ultraviolet spectrograph ever produced for space.
 its mechanism is similar to that of a prism.
 the image it produces reveals information about the temperature, chemical
composition, density, and motion of the object being observed.
The Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS)
 sees in such wavelengths that enable the studying of some of the earliest
activity in the universe.
 contains two cameras: the wide field camera, the solar blind camera
 contributes in the studying of the evolution of the universe, focuses on hot
stars and planets
The Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS)
 spans ultraviolet, visible and near-infrared wavelengths
 it maps out large objects like galaxies
 astronomers use it to hunt for black holes
The Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer(NICMOS)
 is Hubble's heat sensor
 the light from objects in the universe "shifts" into the
infrared wavelengths
 lets us observe objects hidden by interstellar dust and those
in deepest space, whose light takes billions of years to reach us.
Fine Guidance Sensors (FGS)
 are three sensors that lock onto "guide stars"
 keep Hubble pointed precisely in the right direction.
 help the development of astrometry
 determine if certain stars are actually double stars

Achievements
Dark energy
 the dark energy is energy of the empty space
 it makes up to 70% of the total energy density
 1998- is discovered that the expansion of our Universe is speeding up,
propelled by the repulsive force of this dark energy
 Supernovas are extremely bright, and their luminosities are nearly constant
 these two features enabled the whole discovery

Galaxy formation and evolution

 galaxies can be of two types:
- disc galaxies (Milky Way, Andromeda etj.)
- eleptical galaxies
 smaller blocks of galaxies collide to form the larger galaxies
  the mass assembled in galaxies is related to the stellar populations in their old
halos

Supermassive black holes

 HST detected quasi stellar objects and confirmed the presence of black holes
 the masses of the black holes are correlated with the masses of the spherical
bulges of stars surrounding the galactic centres
 Massive black holes are apparently a generic feature of galaxy formation and
evolution
 many of the galaxies are interacting galaxies and the others are bright
elliptical galaxies
Extrasolar planets
 there are more than 350 extrasolar planets discovered up to today
 the first one was detected in 1992
 Hubble is focused on transiting planets, which give us valuable information
when they eclipse they host stars
 the blockage of the starlight and the amount of diming enable the deduction of
the planet’s radius
 the atmosphere content can be discovered from the part of the starlight that is
absorbed from atoms beyond the planet’s atmosphere
 e.g. the atmosphere of the star HD 209458 contains sodium, carbon, oxygen,
and hydrogen.
 16 candidate planets have been discovered, five of them whirl around their
star in less than one Eardh day and they were dubbed Ultra-Short-Period Planets

HUBBLE IS NOT ALONE

Galaxy Evolution Explorer

 an ultraviolet space telescope was released on 28.04.2003, 11:59 from
Cape Canaveral
 its nearly circular orbit forms an angle of 29° to the Equator
 it will make a closer observation of all the galaxies in a space time of 10
billion years, coming up with a map of all known galaxies
 it will study the formation of galaxies, as well as that of the stars in them
 will help in a better understanding of the chemical composition of our
galaxy
American Kepler Telescope
 located in orbit since 7 March 2009, 03:49:57.
 it will seek planets similar to Earth outside the solar sistem, building
a catalogue with various types of planets
  has already discovered 4b, 5b, 6b, 7b and 8b, planets known as “hot
Jupiters” because of their temperature
 in terms of size they are similar to Neptune and the Jupiter

Swift
 2005- detected GRB 050509b, the firot identification of a a short-
duration gamma-ray(1/20 s)
 2006- detected GRB 060218, an unusually long (2000 seconds) and
nearby burst, probably indicating an imminent supernova
 2006- detected GRB 060614, a burst of gamma rays that lasted 102
seconds in a distant galaxy, leading some to speculate whether it represented a
new class of progenitors or a massive star death.
 2008- detected GRB 080319B, a burst of gamma rays which
established a new record for farthest object visible to the naked eye and 2.5
million times brighter than the previous brightest supernova
 2009- detected GRB 090423, the most distant cosmic explosion ever
seen, at a distance of 13.035 billion light-years.

Fermi Space Telescope

 is a powerful space observatory, which will explore the Extreme Universe
 perceives the highest-energy form of light, Gamma rays
 the gamma-ray sky is spectacularly different from the one we perceive
 will be able to answer some persistent questions, such as super massive
black-
hole systems, pulsars, the origin of cosmic rays

The Herschel
 is the largest infrared telescope sent into space
 its single mirror has a diameter of 3.5 m
 collects radiation from some of the coldest and furthest objects in the
Universe
 focuses light onto three instruments called HIFI, SPIRE, and PACS, in the
full 60-670 micron range.
Achievements:
 study the formation and the subsequent evolution of galaxies in the early
universe
 investigate the creation of stars and their interaction with the interstellar
medium
 observe the chemical composition of the atmospheres and surfaces of
comets, planets and satellites
 examine the molecular chemistry of the universe
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST)
 its launch is planned for 2014.
 will be a large infrared telescope with a 6.5-meter primary mirror
 will study the formation and evolution of our Solar System and life forms
in it
 includes: a near-infrared (IR) camera, a near-IR multi-object spectrograph,
a mid-IR instrument, and a tunable filter imager
 its innovative technologies include: segmented primary mirror, ultra-
lightweight beryllium optics, sensitive detectors and a cry cooler for the mid-IR
detectors