Hubble Renewed
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Transcript of Hubble Renewed
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NASA/ESA/HUBBLE SM4 ERO TEAM
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HUBBLErenewedYoung stars flare in the Carina
Nebula, a roiling stellar nursery
7,500 light-years from Earth, in one
of the first images from the
venerable Hubble Space Telescope
after astronauts revitalized it last
spring. With its new instruments,
Hubble can see more clearly than
ever into dark corners of the
universe, like this pillar of dust and
gas, searching for clues to how
galaxies, stars, and planets formed.
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hubble
Last May astronauts gave the Hubble Space Telescope what will
likely be its final overhaul. The team, including spacewalker John
Grunsfeld (above left), on his third visit to the orbiting observatory,
repaired power and control systems to give Hubble several more
years of life riding high above Earths atmospheric haze. They
also installed a new camera and spectrograph and repaired two
other instruments to make the telescope more productive than
ever. The best times for this telescope are ahead of it, says
Hubble Project Scientist Ken Sembach of the Space Telescope
Science Institute. The public is going to be amazed.
The signature images from Hubble, which turns 20 in April,
show careering galaxies, exploding stars, eerie nebulae. With
the telescopes greater imaging sensitivity and resolution, its
new images will be even more spectacular.
And even more profound. Soon after the upgrades, Hubble
took aim at a dark patch of sky, gathering infrared light for a
total of four days to detect the very faintest objects. The images
reveal blurry dots, just a handful of pixels, says Garth Illingworth,
a University of California, Santa Cruz, astrophysicist. The dots,
analyzed by computer to rule out camera artifacts, are images of
objects that are among the most distant, and thus most ancient,
ever seensmall, bloblike early galaxies shining 13.1 billion years
ago. The universe itself is but 13.7 billion years old. The new
camera has pushed the frontier a few hundred million years closer
to the beginning, Illingworth says. In its final years Hubble is
seeing back almost to the beginning of time. Chris Carroll
Te long view
Massed stars in the OmegaCentauri globular cluster
(lef) showcase the abilitieso the new Wide Field
Camera 3. Sensitive to awider spectrum o lightthan its predecessors, it
reveals blue and red giantsbeside yellow, sunlike stars.
In the Butterfly Nebula(top center and right) thenew camera shows subtlerdetail in gas clouds being
eroded by stellar wind.
BUTTERFLY NEBULA, 2004 2009
LEFT: NASA/ESA/HUBBLE SM4 ERO TEAM. ABOVE, LEFT TORIGHT: NASA; NASA/ESA/ALBERT ZIJLSTRA, UNIVERSITY OF
MANCHESTER; NASA/ESA/HUBBLE SM4 ERO TEAM
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A our-way galactic pileupappears imminent, but thebluish spiral, 40 millionlight-years away, is seventimes as close as the rest oStephans Quintet. (wo o
the galaxies are entangled,bottom, and a fifh is outo the rame.) Te distantgalaxies warm hues meantheir stars are older.
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In a final gust of wind,the dying star at the center
of the Butterfly Nebulasweeps hot gas into lacywings trillions of miles
across. Two decades into
its mission, Hubble isbeaming back its deepest,most detailed views yet,
drawing closer to theabsolute limits of vision.
hubble
