Tag Archives: hubble

Hubble telescope exhibit gives hands-on experience – Coastal Review Online

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A scale model of the Hubble Space Telescope and its contributions to the exploration of planets, stars, galaxies and the universe make up a hands-on experience on display through June 23 at Cape Fear Museum of History and Science in Wilmington.

Hubble Space Telescope: New Views of the Universe is a traveling exhibit through National Aeronautics and Space Administration, or NASA. Hubble, a space-based observatory launched and deployed by the space shuttle Discovery in 1990, orbits 326 miles above the Earth, according to NASA.

The exhibit features the telescopes various instruments and the role that each one plays in providing new images and discoveries, and showcases Hubbles images and data of planets, galaxies, regions around black holes, and many other fascinating cosmic entities.

Visitors also get a glimpse of the various hurdles Hubble faced in its career and discover the role that astronauts played in repairing and servicing the observatory, and be introduced to the James Webb Space Telescope launched Dec. 25, 2021.

Cape Fear Museum at 814 Market St. is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and 1-5 p.m. Sunday. Standard admission prices are $8 for adults; $7 for seniors, students and military with valid ID; $5 for children 6-17; and free for children 5 and under and for museum members.

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Hubble telescope exhibit gives hands-on experience - Coastal Review Online

NASA Says It’s Trying to Bring the Hubble Back Online

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NASA is working on bringing the Hubble Telescope back online, but the orbital observatory is getting very old.

Major Tom?

NASA is working on bringing the Hubble Space Telescope back online, but given its recent setbacks, the agency's insistence that it's "in good health" may be wishful thinking.

In an update, NASA said that it's still working to bring the aging telescope back to life after a series of issues that led it to automatically enter safe mode (read: shut down) three times over the course of a few weeks, with the final one lasting until now.

Starting on November 19, the agency began having issues problems with the gyroscopes or "gyros" — not to be confused with the delicious Greek meat — which helps orient the telescope in whatever direction it needs to point. Between that date and November 29, the gyro issues led to automatic power-downs thrice. That last safe mode, it seems, has remained in effect until now.

Aging Instruments

Installed back in 2009 during the fifth and final Space Shuttle servicing mission that saw NASA astronauts replacing and fixing Hubble instruments IRL, the remaining three of the six gyros aboard the telescope have clearly seen better days. Indeed, with its update to its previous statement about the science operations shutoff, the agency seems to be admitting as much.

"Based on the performance observed during the tests, the team has decided to operate the gyros in a higher-precision mode during science observations," the statement reads. "Hubble’s instruments and the observatory itself remain stable and in good health."

These latest Hubble setbacks have resurrected talks of a private servicing mission for the 33-year-old telescope that was supposed to be decommissioned nearly two decades ago.

At the end of 2022, NASA and SpaceX announced that they were jointly looking into whether it would be feasible to send up a private mission "at no cost to the government" to fix various issues on the telescope. That study has apparently been completed, but nobody knows what the findings were just yet.

In the meantime, NASA will hopefully be able to bring Hubble back online itself because, let's face it, we're not ready to say goodbye.

More on NASA: Space Station Turns 25, Just in Time to Die

The post NASA Says It's Trying to Bring the Hubble Back Online appeared first on Futurism.

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NASA Says It's Trying to Bring the Hubble Back Online

NASA says Hubble Telescope will resume science operations after gyroscope glitch – Space.com

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Following a string of setbacks concerning one of its directional instruments, the Hubble Space Telescope will get back to its job of capturing deep space images soon enough, NASA says.

It all began on Nov. 19, when one of the iconic observatory's three gyroscopes (a trio that live on from an original set of six) began providing faulty readings. In general, gyroscopes are devices that use either circulating beams of light or rapidly spinning wheels to help scientists make sure an object is facing the direction they want it to face. Incorrect gyroscope readings on the Hubble Telescope, as you might imagine, can therefore drastically affect science measurements. To image a specific spot in deep space with this Earth-orbiting telescope, you'd have to make sure it's actually facing that spot in deep space.

Thus, Hubble entered safe mode on Nov. 19 something that's programmed to happen automatically when certain issues arise with the observatory. The team, however, was able to bring it back online the following day. But things weren't looking good shortly after, when gyro issues sent Hubble into yet another safe mode situation on Nov. 21. The team brought Hubble back once more shortly after that, only for the beloved telescope to retreat into its dark corner once again on Nov. 23.

Related: Hubble Telescope revisits gorgeous spiral galaxy, offering a newly filtered view (photo)

That most recent safe mode entrance was slightly worrying as it persisted for longer than the previous two dips. It wasn't too worrying though because, first of all, this isn't the first time Hubble's gyros have raised issues leading to a shutdown. And secondly, maybe most importantly, the observatory can actually function with only one gyroscope. The team just uses three because it maximizes efficiency.

But perhaps all of this is moot at this point, because as of Dec. 7, NASA confirmed that it plans on restoring Hubble for science operations once more. With all three gyros too!

"Based on the performance observed during the tests, the team has decided to operate the gyros in a higher-precision mode during science observations. Hubbles instruments and the observatory itself remain stable and in good health," NASA officials wrote in a statement.

Though it's been over three decades since Hubble began exploring the vibrant reaches of our universe and though a new observatory in town has been catching most of the spotlight recently this Reynolds-wrap-looking telescope is surely not finished yet.

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NASA says Hubble Telescope will resume science operations after gyroscope glitch - Space.com