Following the successful repairs to the Hubble Space Telescope by the crew of a space shuttle is yielding some spectacular new photos of our universe.
NASA began releasing some of the new views of our universe yesterday.
NASA officials said they plan to use the orbiting observatory to probe Pluto, the one-time planet on the fringes of the solar system.
They also said the new equipment will take photos to capture data about individual stars in far-out galaxies and provide clues about the chemical makeup of dying stars.
Pluto, once considered a planet shortly after its discovery in 1930, was demoted in 2006 when a new International Astronomical Union definition of “planet” excluded Pluto because of its relatively small mass.
Scientists are interested in examining Pluto and other Pluto-like objects in the Kuiper Belt, where Pluto resides, said David Leckrone, senior project scientist for Hubble at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.
A crew from Shuttle Atlantis installed new equipment — including a camera and a spectrograph that displays different elements by color — on the 19-year-old Hubble in May and repaired older instruments.
The photos released Wednesday were the first products of the new system that has undergone three months of calibration and testing.
“Hubble has fundamentally changed the course of astronomy and astrophysics,” said Leckrone.
The new Hubble images included a colorful star cluster, a dying star taking the shape of a butterfly, a quintet of galaxies, and an infant star being formed inside a dense cloud.
NASA has a gallery of the new images available on their web site. You can see them HERE.
Just reminds me that the universe is such a small place.
Um…I meant to say “large” place.
I hope we are all happy that they did the repair. I cannot beleive they even considered letting this telescope. Long Live Hubble!!!!! Make sure you check out the other shots as well.
Hubble is giving us some awesome pictures of creation.
How awesome our God, truly the Divine Artist !
Pluto is not a “one time planet”; it IS a planet. . Only four percent of the IAU voted on the controversial demotion, and most are not planetary scientists. Their decision was immediately opposed in a formal petition by hundreds of professional astronomers led by Dr. Alan Stern, Principal Investigator of NASA’s New Horizons mission to Pluto. One reason the IAU definition makes no sense is it says dwarf planets are not planets at all! That is like saying a grizzly bear is not a bear, and it is inconsistent with the use of the term “dwarf” in astronomy, where dwarf stars are still stars, and dwarf galaxies are still galaxies. Also, the IAU definition classifies objects solely by where they are while ignoring what they are. If Earth were in Pluto’s orbit, according to the IAU definition, it would not be a planet either. A definition that takes the same object and makes it a planet in one location and not a planet in another is essentially useless. Pluto is a planet because it is spherical, meaning it is large enough to be pulled into a round shape by its own gravity–a state known as hydrostatic equilibrium and characteristic of planets, not of shapeless asteroids held together by chemical bonds. These reasons are why many astronomers, lay people, and educators are either ignoring the demotion entirely or working to get it overturned.
Please do not blindly accept the controversial IAU demotion as reality when it is just one perspective in an ongoing debate.
*starts singing it’s a small universe after all until an avalanche of rotten fruit envelopes me.
But seriously, I think this is great news and obviously one day The Hubble will cease to function but I hope that when that day comes they find a way to bring it back to earth intact and place it in The Smithsonian Air & Space museum.
My goodness! It used to be just a plain blue sky from my end. Now I can see beyond! Amazing! Whoever painted these wonderful things you see up there must have known perfection! It is sooooooooo beautiful!
Thank you for making me feel good by seeing all these.