For 2 decades the Hubble Telescope has amazed the world with exotic images of deep space. In 2010, notable Hubble discoveries contain the observation of the most ancient known galaxy (13 billion years) and images of an intense crash of asteroids far out within the solar system. In 2014 the Hubble Telescope can be retired, but not after its successor, the much larger, much more powerful James Webb Space Telescope is in place.
Hubble takes picture of oldest universe
Hubble Telescope astronomers made an announcement Friday. They said the oldest object in the universe has been seen now. The New York Times accounts that light from a universe that took 13.1 billion years to reach Earth was detected in a Hubble image released earlier this year. The universe was young then. Only 600 million years old was how old. It is expected the universe had been one of the first to exist and therefore is no longer in the form the Hubble say it in.
Asteroid impact shown with Hubble
The Hubble also made history last week. It took asteroid collision pictures, the first ever taken. Now we can see what occurs when asteroids slam together, according to the Christian Science Monitor. Scientists could protect Earth with this data. It could help if an asteroid towards Earth had been threatening. Astronomers figured a rock about 10 to 16 feet wide smashed into a larger asteroid at about 11,200 mph. A small nuclear blast could be compared to the blast. The smaller rock vaporized and pressure swept the debris behind the surviving asteroid into a comet-like tail.
The James Webb telescope too
The successor to the Hubble Telescope, the James Webb Space Telescope, can be sent to a stable point in space called a Lagrange point 940,000 miles from Earth — four times farther than the moon. Lagrange points are areas in space where gravity from the Sun and Earth intersect. This point will be where the Webb Space Telescope orbits. From this fixed position, operating at a temperature of absolute zero, its two-story tall mirror will be able to observe the birth of the universe and open a new era of space exploration.
Articles cited
New York Times
nytimes.com/aponline/2010/10/20/science/space/AP-US-SCI-Oldest-Galaxy.html?_r=4 and partner=rss and emc=rss
Christian Science Monitor
csmonitor.com/Science/2010/1014/Asteroid-collision-possibly-spotted-by-Hubble-telescope
Hubblesite
hubblesite.org
Karlonia
karlonia.com/2010/10/20/deep-space-telescopes/
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