A Revolving Eye

By Bilal Hameed

Astronomy is the oldest science. Humans always look up at the sky at night and wonder about what they see.
In ancient times, celestial objects seemed to hold great power over civilizations. In addition to studying the
sky to track the sun and moon during the landing season, people worshiped the sun, moon, and stars. Early
astronomers used many types of equipment to study the sky. They were all basic tools for measuring or
calculating the positions of celestial bodies. Astronomers used it to map the stars and create tables to predict
the future positions of the sun, moon, and planets. This knowledge was important because the sky served
seafarers as clocks, calendars, and navigation aids. Used by monks to set religious customs and time for
astrologers to create horoscopes. Astronomers used only naked-eye observations until the 17 th century.
Before the invention of the telescope and the discovery of the laws of motion and gravity, astronomy was
primarily concerned with determining and predicting the positions of the sun, moon, and planets. Originally
for calendar and astrology purposes, later for navigation and science purposes.

History of Telescopes
In 1608, Dutch eyeglass manufacturer Hans Lipperhey first patented the telescope. His device was able to
magnify an image up to three times. In 1610, Galileo Galilei adjusted the telescope to point it towards the
sky. Johannes Kepler proposed a variant of the Galileo telescope, according to which a telescope device
could be made using two convex lenses, but the resulting image would be reversed. In 1655, Christiaan
Huygens, inspired by the earlier works of Galileo, built the most powerful telescope that was built to make
detailed studies of the planets and solar system. In 1668, Sir Isaac Newton later argued that telescopes should
use a series of mirrors instead of lenses, based on the work of his predecessor, especially Kepler. He
believed, among other things, that this setting would solve the chromatic aberration problem that plagues
refracting telescopes. In 1789, William Herschel built the first giant reflector telescope. He oversaw the
construction of a 12 meters long Newtonian-based reflector telescope. In 1846, William Parsons, built a
series of telescopes at his home. In 1897, the Yerkes Observatory became the largest refracting telescope in
the world at the time. In 1930, Karl Guthe Jansky built a series of dipoles and reflectors designed to receive
short-wave radio signals of approximately 20.5 MHz. In 1950, Sir Bernard Lovell made plans to build a
large radio telescope.

In 1962, European Southern Observatory (ESO), is an intergovernmental research organisation for

ground-based astronomy. ESO provided astronomers with futuristic research equipment and access to the
southern sky. The organization receives annual member state contributions of approximately €162 million.
ESO has built and operated some of the largest and most technologically advanced telescopes. These include
the new 3.6 m telescope and the Very Large Telescope (VLT) that have pioneered the use of active optics, it
consists of four small auxiliary telescopes that can work together or separately with four 8.2m telescopes.
Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) is currently under construction. It will use a 39.3-meter-diameter
segmented mirror, and will become the world's largest optical reflecting telescope when operational in 2024.
Its light-gathering ability allows astronomers to study in detail the nature and distribution of the planets
around other stars, the first celestial bodies in the universe, supermassive black holes, and the dark matter
and dark energy that dominate the universe. Unfortunately, ESO is facing several engineering and
atmospheric challenges to build these giant telescopes. Scientists have concluded that terrestrial telescope
images are affected due to atmospheric disturbances. Orbiting telescopes capture images unaffected by
flickering air vibrations, which will pave the way for studying the wavelengths absorbed by the atmosphere.
Hubble Space Telescope
In 1923, Hermann Oberth, who is called the father of modern rockets, along with Roert H. Goddard and
Konstantin Tsiolkovsky described that how rockets can put telescopes into low Earth orbit. The history of the
Hubble Space Telescope (HST) dates back to 1946, when astronomer Lyman Spitzer published a study titled
Astronomical Benefits of Extraterrestrial Observatory. In it, he discussed two main advantages of space
observatories over terrestrial telescopes. First, the angular resolution (the minimum distance at which objects
can be clearly distinguished) is limited only by diffraction and not by the atmospheric turbulence that causes
the stars to blink (called vision by astronomers). HST was founded in the 1970s and was built by the US
space agency NASA with funding from the European Space Agency. The scheduled launch was in 1983, but
technical delays, budget issues, and the 1986 Challenger disaster made the project obscure. Finally, the HST
was released in 1990, but the main mirror was incorrectly grounded, resulting in spherical aberration that
compromised the telescope’s functionality. The optics were corrected to their intended quality by a servicing
mission in 1993. HST was launched into low Earth orbit and remains in operation. The HST is named after
astronomer Edwin Hubble. It began to return unprecedented but flawed images due to a minor fault in the
primary mirror. The result was better than the ground rig but blurry due to optics issues. HST was designed
to accommodate regular maintenance and upgrades of equipment in orbit. Limited life tools and items are
designed as orbital replacement devices. Five service missions (SM 1, 2, 3A, 3B, and 4) were performed by
NASA space shuttles, the first in December 1993 and the last in May 2009.

Servicing Missions
The first Hubble maintenance mission was scheduled for 1993 before the mirror problem was discovered.
Astronauts on the spacecraft Endeavor entered open space for five days to repair a telescope in orbit about
353 miles above Earth. This has become even more important as astronauts have to put a lot of effort into
installing corrective optics. Failure to do so would have given up Hubble or a perception that it could not
work permanently. Another part failed before the mission, increasing the cost of the repair to $500 million
(excluding the cost of the return flight). A refurbishment was underway when HST began to produce crystal-
clear images.
Servicing Mission 2, piloted by Discovery in February 1997, replaced the GHRS and FOS with the space
telescope imaging spectrometer (STIS) and near-infrared camera and multi-object spectrometer ( NICMOS),
replaced Engineering Science Recorder with new solid state recorder, and modified insulation. The NICMOS
included a solid nitrogen heat sink to reduce the thermal noise of the device, but an unexpected thermal
expansion immediately after installation caused some of the heat sink to come into contact with the optical
baffle. This increased the heating rate of the device and reduced the initial life expectancy from 4.5 years to
about 2 years.
Servicing Mission 3A, operated by Discovery, took place in December 1999 and was detached from
Maintenance Mission 3 after three of its six onboard gyroscopes failed. The fourth failed weeks before the
mission, preventing the telescope from making scientific observations. During the mission, all six
gyroscopes were replaced, the precision aiming sensor and computer were replaced, the voltage/temperature
boost kit (VIK) was installed to prevent overcharging of the battery, and the insulation blanket was replaced.
During the maintenance of Mission 3B, which was flown by Colombia in March 2002, a new device was
installed to replace the FOC (which was the last of the original devices when used for astrometry, except for
the fine guidance sensor). The high-performance camera for advanced camera for surveys is now (ACS).
This means that COSTAR is no longer needed, this is because all new equipment has a built-in fix for the
primary mirror error. The mission also revived NICMOS by installing a closed circuit cooler and replacing
the solar cells twice, providing 30 percent more power.
Service Mission 4 (SM4), which flew from Atlantis in May 2009, was the last scheduled shuttle mission for
HST. The SM4 installed a replacement data processing unit, repaired the ACS and STIS systems, installed an
upgraded NiMH battery, and replaced other components, including all six gyroscopes. The SM4 also features
two new observation devices, the Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) and the Cosmic Origins Spectroscope
(COS). and a soft capture that enables future rendezvous, detection, and safe disposal HST by manned or
robotic missions. And installed the rendezvous system. Apart from the unrepairable and deactivated ACS
high resolution channels, working with SM4 made the telescope fully functional.

Major projects
Many research projects have been carried out since the start of the program. Some were almost completely
Hubble, while others were tailored to institutions such as the Chandra X-ray Observatory and the ESO's Very
Large Telescope (VLT). The Hubble Observatory is nearing its end of life, but large-scale projects are still
planned. One example is the following Frontier Field Program, inspired by Hubble's deep observations of
Abel Clusters in 1689.

Cosmic Assembly Near-infrared Deep Extragalactic Legacy Survey

In an August 2013 press release, CANDELS was named "The Largest Project in Hubble History". This
review "aims to study galactic evolution in the early universe and the seeds of the first cosmic structures less
than a billion years after the Big Bang."

Frontier Fields program

Formally called the Hubble Deep Field Initiative 2012, the program looks at galaxies with high red shifts in
the empty field with the help of gravitational lenses to see "the weakest galaxy in the distant universe." The
goal is to expand our knowledge of the early formation of galaxies.

Cosmic Evolution Survey (COSMOS)

The Space Evolution Survey (COSMOS) is an astronomical survey aimed at investigating the formation and
evolution of galaxies as a function of both cosmic time (redshift) and the local galaxy environment. This
study covers a 2-square-degree equatorial field with spectroscopy and X-ray-to-radio imaging with most
large space-based telescopes and many large ground-based telescopes, and extragalactic astrophysics. Has
become the main focus area of. Launched in 2006 as the largest Hubble Space Telescope project at the time,
COSMOS is the largest continuous area of the sky covered with an empty field for the purpose of mapping
the universe, 2.5 times and 17 times the moon in the sky. The size is larger than the largest in the CANDELS
area. The scientific collaboration of COSMOS, born from the first COSMOS survey, is the largest and
longest existing extragalactic collaboration known for its collegiality and openness. Studies of galaxies near
them can only be performed on large areas of the sky larger than half a square degree. More than 2 million
galaxies have been discovered, covering 90% of the age of the universe.

Important discoveries
Hubble helped to solve some long-standing problems in astronomy and at the same time raised new
questions. Some results required a new theory to explain them.

Age of the universe

One of the main objectives of the mission was to use Cepheid variable stars to measure distances to stars
more accurately than ever before. This limits the value of Hubble's constant, which is a measure of the
expansion rate of the universe. This is also related to its age. Prior to the introduction of HST, Hubble's
constant estimates usually had an error of up to 50%, but Hubble measurements of Cepheid variables in the
Virgo Cluster and other distant clusters have ± 10%. The measured value was obtained with accuracy. Other
more accurate measurements made using other techniques since Hubble's birth. Currently, the estimated age
is about 13.7 billion years, but before the Hubble Space Telescope, scientists predicted it to be 10 to 20
billion years old.
Expansion of the universe
Hubble helped to refine the estimation of the age of the universe, but it also cast doubt on the theory of its
future. The High-Z Supernova Search Team and astronomers of the Supernova Cosmology Program use
ground telescopes and HST to observe distant supernovae, saying that the expansion of the universe does not
slow down under the influence of gravity, but actually accelerates. I found evidence. Since then, three
members of these two groups have won the Nobel Prize for their discovery. The cause of this acceleration is
still unknown. The most common cause is dark energy.

Black holes
HST's high-resolution spectra and images are particularly well suited to determine the prevalence of black
holes in the center of nearby galaxies. In the early 1960s, it was assumed that black holes would be found in
the center of some galaxies, and astronomers identified many good candidates for black holes in the 1980s,
but Hubble's research found black holes. But the center is common to all galaxies. The Hubble program also
found that the mass of nuclear black holes and the properties of galaxies are closely related. Therefore, the
legacy of the Hubble program on galaxy black holes is to demonstrate a deep connection between the galaxy
and its central black hole.

Extending visible wavelength images

The unique windows to space made possible by HST are images of Hubble Deep Field, Hubble Ultra Deep
Field, and Hubble Extreme Deep Field. These images took advantage of Hubble's unparalleled sensitivity at
visible wavelengths to create images of small patches in the deepest sky. So far it has been obtained at light
wavelengths. These images reveal galaxies billions of light-years away and have produced a wealth of
scientific research that provides new windows for the early universe. Wide Field Camera 3 has improved the
display of these fields of infrared and ultraviolet light, helping to discover some of the farthest objects ever
discovered, such as the MACS0647-JD.

Other discoveries
Other discoveries made in Hubble Data include the proto-planetary disk of the Orion Nebula, the discovery
of the solar system, the reproduction of supernovae, evidence of the existence of extrasolar planets around
stars like the Sun, and still mysterious. Includes optical counterparts for gamma-ray bursts.

Impact on astronomy
Many objective metrics show the positive impact of Hubble data on astronomy. More than 15,000 articles
based on Hubble data have been published in peer-reviewed journals, and countless other articles have been
published in the minutes of the meeting. Looking at papers years after publication, about one-third of all
astronomical papers have no citations, but only 2% of Hubble data-based publications have no citations. On
average, Hubble-based works receive about twice as many citations as non-Hubble-based works. Of the 200
articles with the highest number of citations per year, about 10% are based on Hubble data. HST has
obviously helped with astronomical research, but it comes with a high financial cost. In a study of the
relative astronomical benefits of telescopes of various sizes, publications based on HST data produced 15
times more citations than the William Herschel telescope's 4-meter ground-based telescope, but the
construction of the HST was about 100. -Maintain double height. The choice between a ground-based
telescope and a space telescope is complicated. Even before Hubble was launched, special ground-based
technologies such as aperture masking interferometry acquired higher resolution optical and infrared images
than Hubble achieved, but they were about more than the weakest targets. It was limited to 108x brighter
targets, but Hubble's were observed. Since then, advances in adaptive optics have expanded the high-
resolution imaging capabilities of ground-based telescopes to include infrared imaging of faint objects. The
advantages of adaptive optics over HST observations are highly dependent on the specific details of the
research questions raised. In the visible band, adaptive optics can only correct a relatively small field of
view, but HST can perform high-resolution optical imaging over a wide field of view. With high-resolution
ground-based imaging, only a small portion of the celestial body is accessible. In contrast, HST can perform
high-resolution observations of any part of the night sky or very dark objects.
Impact on aerospace engineering
Many objective metrics show the positive impact of Hubble data on astronomy. Over 15,000 articles based
on Hubble data have been published in peer-reviewed journals, and countless articles have been published in
the minutes of the conference. Looking at papers years after publication, about one-third of all astronomical
papers have no citations, but only 2% of Hubble data-based publications have no citations. On average,
Hubble-based works receive about twice as many citations as non-Hubble-based works. Of the 200 most
cited annual publications, about 10%, in addition to their scientific discoveries, are also significant in the
performance of aerospace engineering, especially low earth orbit (LEO) systems. These discoveries result
from Hubble's long life in orbit, extensive instrumentation, and the return of the assembly to Earth, where
they can be investigated in detail. In particular, Hubble contributed to the study of the behavior of graphite
composites in vacuum, optical contamination, and human service with residual gases, radiation damage to
electronics and sensors, and long-term behavior of multi-layer insulation. One of his lessons was that
gyroscopes assembled with pressurized oxygen to make suspensions can fail due to corroded wires.
Gyroscopes are currently assembled using pressurized nitrogen. Second, the life of the LEO's optical surface
can be surprisingly long. Hubble should have only lasted 15 years before the mirror became unusable, but
after 14 years there was no measurable degradation. Ultimately, Hubble's maintenance missions, especially
those that maintain components not designed for space maintenance, contributed to the development of new
tools and technologies for in-orbit repairs.

Successors
The Hubble successor plan was embodied as a next-generation space telescope project, leading to the James
Webb Space Telescope (JWST) plan, which is Hubble's successor. Unlike the reduced Hubble, the Lagrange
point L2, which reduces thermal and optical interference from the Earth and the Moon, is designed to operate
farther away from the Earth at lower temperatures. Although not designed to be fully maintainable (such as
replaceable equipment), the design includes a docking ring that allows visits from other spacecraft. JWST's
main scientific goal is to observe the farthest objects in the universe, beyond the reach of existing equipment.
It is expected to discover early stars in the universe that are about 280 million years older than the ones
currently recognized by HST. The telescope has been an international cooperation between NASA, the
European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency since 1996 and will be launched on the Ariane 5
rocket. JWST is primarily an infrared device, but its range extends to light with a wavelength of 600 nm or
almost orange in the visible spectrum. Since the general human eye can see light with a wavelength of about
750 nm, it overlaps with the longest visible wavelength band, such as orange and red light.