3 min read NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope Returns to Science Operations Hubble orbiting more than 300 miles above Earth as seen from the space shuttle. NASA Updated, Dec. 8, 2023 NASA restored the agency’s Hubble Space Telescope to science operations Friday, Dec. 8. The telescope had paused science observations Nov. 23 due to an issue with one of its gyros. The spacecraft is in good health and once again operating using all three of its gyros. Hubble’s two main cameras, Wide Field Camera 3 and Advanced Camera for Surveys, resumed…
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Hubble Celebrates 30th Anniversary of Servicing Mission 1
6 min read Hubble Celebrates 30th Anniversary of Servicing Mission 1 Astronaut F. Story Musgrave works in the space shuttle Endeavour’s cargo bay while the solar array panels on the Hubble Space Telescope are deployed during the final Servicing Mission 1 spacewalk. NASA In the pre-dawn hours on Dec. 2, 1993, the space shuttle Endeavour launched from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on a critical mission to repair NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. Hubble was designed to be serviced in space with components that astronauts can slide in and out of…
Read MoreHubble Views a Double Cluster of Glowing Galaxies
2 min read Hubble Views a Double Cluster of Glowing Galaxies This NASA Hubble Space Telescope image of Abell 3192 holds two independent galaxy clusters. ESA/Hubble & NASA, G. Smith, H. Ebeling, D. Coe This Hubble image features a massive cluster of brightly glowing galaxies, first identified as Abell 3192. Like all galaxy clusters, this one is suffused with hot gas that emits powerful X-rays, and it is enveloped in a halo of invisible dark matter. All this unseen material – not to mention the many galaxies visible in this image –…
Read MoreConstruction on NASA Mission to Map 450 Million Galaxies Is Under Way
6 min read Construction on NASA Mission to Map 450 Million Galaxies Is Under Way Sara Susca, deputy payload manager and payload systems engineer for NASA’s SPHEREx mission, looks up at one of the spacecraft’s photon shields. These concentric cones protect the telescope from light and heat from the Sun and the Earth, which can overwhelm the telescope’s detectors. NASA/JPL-Caltech SHPEREx Photon Shield Fabrication at Applied Aerospace Structures Corp. in Stockton CA Requester: Kaitlyn Soares Photographer: Gregory M. Waigand Date: 2023-07-12 Photolab order: 107469-11.02.03 AACS Key elements are coming together…
Read MoreHubble Tangos with a Dancer in Dorado
2 min read Hubble Tangos with a Dancer in Dorado This NASA Hubble Space Telescope image features the spiral galaxy NGC 1566. ESA/Hubble & NASA, D. Calzetti and the LEGUS team, R. Chandar This vibrant Hubble Space Telescope image features the spiral galaxy NGC 1566, sometimes informally referred to as the ‘Spanish Dancer Galaxy’. Like the subject of another recent image, NGC 1566 is a weakly-barred or intermediate spiral galaxy. This means that it does not have a clearly present or a clearly absent bar-shaped structure at its center. The…
Read MoreHubble Examines Entrancing Galaxy in Eridanus
2 min read Hubble Examines Entrancing Galaxy in Eridanus NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope’s view of NGC 685 in the constellation Eridanus, the River. NASA, ESA, and J. Lee (Space Telescope Science Institute); Processing: Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America) Hubble is sharing a brand new galaxy image every day through October 7, 2023! Visit our website daily, or follow along on X, Facebook, and Instagram. NGC 685 takes center stage amid faintly twinkling stars on an inky black background. This galaxy is clearly a barred spiral galaxy with its bright…
Read MoreHubble’s Multi-Wavelength View of Recently-Released Webb Image
2 min read Hubble’s Multi-Wavelength View of Recently-Released Webb Image This NASA Hubble Space Telescope image of NGC 5068 uses data in ultraviolet, visible, and near-infrared light. NASA, ESA, R. Chandar (University of Toledo), and J. Lee (Space Telescope Science Institute); Processing: Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America) Hubble is sharing a brand new galaxy image every day through October 7, 2023! Visit our website daily, or follow along on X, Facebook, and Instagram. Patches of bright pink and wisps of dark red paint the foreground of this new NASA…
Read MoreHubble Captures Starry Cetus Constellation Galaxy
2 min read Hubble Captures Starry Cetus Constellation Galaxy NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, ESA, R. Chandar (University of Toledo), and J. Lee (Space Telescope Science Institute); Processing: Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America) Hubble is sharing a brand new galaxy image every day through October 7, 2023! Visit our website daily, or follow along on X, Facebook, and Instagram. New and old stars alike twinkle in the dusty spiral arms of NGC 1087. Located 80 million light-years away in the constellation Cetus, NGC 1087 is a barred spiral galaxy. It…
Read MoreHubble Views A Vibrant Virgo Cluster Galaxy
2 min read Hubble Views A Vibrant Virgo Cluster Galaxy NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, ESA, and J. Lee (Space Telescope Science Institute); Processing: Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America) It’s easy to get swept up in the swirling starry arms of this intermediate spiral galaxy, NGC 4654, in the constellation Virgo. The galaxy has a bright center and is labeled “intermediate” because it has characteristics of both unbarred and barred spirals. NGC 4654 is just north of the celestial equator, making it visible from the northern hemisphere and most of…
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