Images of the Universe obtained by ground-based telescopes are filtered and deformed by the atmosphere. Due to atmosphere turbolence the point-like image of the stars are seen as a disk with a 1 arcsec of radius.
To overcome these drawbacks the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) was positioned 600 km from the Earth's surface. This telescope has a 2.4 metre
mirror and 6 instruments to observe from ultraviolet
to near infrared
.
The resolution
of the telescope is 0.1 arcsec:
it is possible to see a 2 eurocent coin at a distance of 40 km; the HST is able to observe objects 40 times fainter than the faintest stars observed by earth telescopes!
Most of the images
on these pages are taken by this telescope.
![](../../mortestelle/images/hstuscita-small.jpg) |
Fig. 1: The HST (in the middle) leaving the Shuttle; to the left and to the right of the HST there
is an opened solar panel. (Credit: Foto
NASA) |
The idea of a space-orbiting telescope was conceived in 1962 in the USA, at the National Academy of Science; the real project started only in 1977 and the telescope was completed in 1985. In 1990 the Space Shuttle
Discovery carried it into orbit around the Earth.
Thanks to the good scientific results obtained, the telescope will be kept at least until 2007.
The JWST
(James
Webb Space Telescope), the successor to the HST, should be launched next.
![](../../mortestelle/images/formazionep.jpg)
Fig. 2:
Example
of the HST's capabilities.
(Credit: Foto NASA, ESA;
01/07/2004) |
On the left is an example of the HST's capabilities.
It shows the star formation zone N11B in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), at 160 thousand light years . Click
on the image to enlarge. |
To see lots more images taken by Hubble go to the NASA photographic archive.
The Webweavers: Last modified Mon, 11 Oct 2004 10:35:51 GMT