[ad_1]
Jeletic and his team are also trying to anticipate potential mishaps. For example, they saw that the thin threads of Hubble’s gyroscopes were gradually rusting and breaking, and three of its six gyroscopes failed. Without Gyro, Hubble can’t fix anything properly. But in the last service mission, the astronauts replaced the air conditioners and improved the wires so that they could not rust, fixing the problem.
However, each new obstacle inevitably raises concerns about an aging telescope, which has been instrumental in so many astronomical achievements, including determining the age of the universe and finding the smaller moons of Pluto. “I think it’s been completely transformative,” says Adam Riess, an astronomer at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. He shared the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics for showing how measurements of exploding stars or supernovae show the accelerated expansion of the universe, a project benefiting from Hubble data. To date, the telescope continues to subscribe at least five times, Riess says, which means astronomers have five times as many proposals to use Hubble as the time available for the telescope.
The space telescope has also served as an educational tool and sparked the public interest of an entire generation in space science. “Everyone knows Hubble,” says Jeyhan Kartaltep, an astronomer at the Rochester Institute of Technology, whose work in multiple galaxy surveys uses a lot of Hubble images. “It’s become a household name. People enjoy reading articles about what Hubble found and enjoy watching photos. I think people have an immediate connection to Hubble with astronomy. ”
Hubble’s latest hardware challenges came a month before its successor James Webb Space Telescope, is scheduled to launch into orbit. Like its iconic predecessor, the new telescope will capture spectacular images, although it is designed to further study wavelengths. infrared range, allowing the dusty parts of galaxies and star nebula to penetrate. Riess hopes to be popular among astronomers and the public as well.
Hubble has easily exceeded its expected life expectancy, and the same is true of NASA Chandra X-ray Observatory, Was launched in 1999 and continues to operate, although it was designed to last only five years. It’s a good sign for Webbr, similar to what’s planned for a five-year life. Unlike Hubble, however, it will orbit much farther, and it will be impossible for astronauts. This means that the problems that arise will have to be solved remotely.
But Hubble helped set the stage for his successor. For example, after the launch of Hubble, engineers realized that its mirror was not bent properly, and initially blurred images were created. Webb’s design allows engineers to adjust the curvature remotely if such an error occurs.
Astronomers appreciate the hard work of Hubble engineers and operators. “Their dedication to continuing to rescue the telescope is wonderful. I am very proud to support the scientists who are using the data, “said Julianne Dalcanton, a University of Washington astronomer who has frequently used Hubble throughout her career, including Andromeda, our galactic neighbor, for mapping. they hope to make observations together, mainly because they will learn different things from telescope instruments and wavelength coverage.
Although Jeletic and his team still don’t know when Hubble will return to the network, he hopes all systems will be up and running again. “One day Hubble will die, just like all the other spaceships,” he says. “But we hope that’s still a long way off.”
WIRED More great stories
[ad_2]
Source link
