really amazing composite image of the Milky Way released by NASA. They combined infra red, visible, and x-ray images taken by Spitzer, Hubble, and Chandra to create one beautiful image to commemorate the 400 years since 1609, when Galileo looked up.
Efforts to free the stuck Spirit rover on Mars have been dragging on since May, and one NASA official now says the robot may never get free.
"We are proceeding very cautiously and exploring all reasonable options," John Callas, NASA project manager for Spirit and its twin, Opportunity, said in a status report issued Monday. "There is a very real possibility that Spirit may not be able to get out, and we want to give Spirit the very best chance."
Callas and colleagues at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory have been testing ideas on a twin of Spirit at the California facility, in a pit designed to simulate the surface of Mars. It's tricky though, because of the difference in gravity of the two planets. The rover team is also refining a detailed computer model of rover mobility, calibrated with results from testing and measurements from Mars.Efforts to free the stuck Spirit rover on Mars have been dragging on since May, and... more
A refurbished U.S. space telescope is showing Earth the sharpest photos yet of cosmic beauty, complete with heavenly glows. NASA on Wednesday (Sep. 9) unveiled the first deep space photos taken by the Hubble telescope since its billion dollar repair mission earlier this year. That work included installing two new cameras, other science instruments and replacing broken parts. The images of galaxies and nebulas are sharper than previous photos taken of the same places by Hubble before the upgrade. Some of the colorful images have brilliant glows of light that give them halos that to some people can appear heavenly. Here is a look at some of the most recent images from Hubble and some of the images taken earlier by the telescope.A refurbished U.S. space telescope is showing Earth the sharpest photos yet of cosmic... more
A refurbished Hubble Space Telescope is showing Earth the sharpest photos yet of cosmic beauty, complete with heavenly glows.A refurbished Hubble Space Telescope is showing Earth the sharpest photos yet of... more
Showing 10,000 galaxies, the overwhelming Hubble Ultra Deep Field is the most amazing, most humbling image in history, demonstrating how tiny and precious we are. This video explains how it was taken, and shows it in three dimensions.Showing 10,000 galaxies, the overwhelming Hubble Ultra Deep Field is the most amazing,... more
A comet 50 - 100 miles across created a spot in Jupiter's atmosphere the size of planet earth.
Testing of the Hubble telescope was interrupted to take pictures of the fleeting mass.
What new discoveries will come from studying the disruption?A comet 50 - 100 miles across created a spot in Jupiter's atmosphere the size of... more
The Hubble Space Telescope was repaired and enhanced during the STS-125 mission of Space Shuttle Atlantis. Launched on May 11, 2009, the 11 day mission included some five spacewalks to make repairs and upgrades to the telescope, leaving it more capable and hopefully prepared to last another five years.
This educational video will explain astronomy for kids in a fun and engaging style with exciting computer animation and breath-taking images from the Hubble Telescope.The Hubble Space Telescope was repaired and enhanced during the STS-125 mission of... more
Herschel, the largest far-infrared telescope ever launched into space, has taken its first image!
If you’re used to Hubble images, this one looks a little fuzzy. That’s because the resolution of a telescope — that is, how well it can resolve small objects — depends on the size of the mirror and the wavelength of light it sees. Optical light, the kind we see, has a far, far smaller wavelength than infrared, so images in optical light have much higher resolution, and look sharper.
Hubble is great for optical wavelengths but Herschel kills it at Infrared, a larger wavelength beyond the visible light spectrum. This will allow us to see into galaxies and nebula.Herschel, the largest far-infrared telescope ever launched into space, has taken its... more
After five spacewalks on consecutive days to bring new life to the Hubble Space Telescope, astronauts on space shuttle Atlantis said goodbye to the venerable observatory, releasing it back to its orbital home. Watching it float out of the cargo bay was a bittersweet moment for everyone involved with the mission, and space enthusiasts, too, as even though Hubble is in great shape and now set to look out farther than ever before, this is that last time humans will visit, touch and care for the world’s most famous telescope. “It’s a sad moment but a great moment, because we put the Hubble in the best posture and and best performance in can be in,” said Jon Morse, NASA Astrophysics division director.
Using the shuttle’s robot arm, astronaut Megan McArthur gently lifted Hubble from the servicing platform in Atlantis’ payload bay where it had been positioned since last week Wednesday. The video is unique in that we get to hear all the action from the flight deck during Hubble’s release — almost as good as being there!
The astronauts conducted five spacewalks — two of them marathon sessions — spending more than 36 hours to upgrade and outfit Hubble with new instruments, including a new Wide Field Planetary Camera that should be able to see objects formed just 500 million years after the Big Bang 13.7 billion years ago.
The Atlantis crew completed everything NASA had planned, including the unprecedented repair of science instruments not designed to be worked on in space.
It was a mission for the ages.After five spacewalks on consecutive days to bring new life to the Hubble Space... more
Practicing a kind of catch-and-release astronomy, the astronauts of the space shuttle Atlantis oh-so-gently let the Hubble Space Telescope slip back into the heavens on Tuesday.
Reporting to mission control in Houston about 9 a.m. as the telescope and shuttle slowly drifted apart, Scott D. Altman, the Atlantis commander, called the last mission to refurbish the fabled telescope “an incredible journey” that demonstrated how humans could overcome challenges by working together.Practicing a kind of catch-and-release astronomy, the astronauts of the space shuttle... more
"Atlantis' astronauts gingerly dropped the Hubble Space Telescope overboard Tuesday, sending the restored observatory off on a new voyage of discovery and bidding it farewell on behalf of the planet.
Hubble — considered better than new following five days of repairs and upgrades — will never be seen up close by humans again. This was NASA's last service call."
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It's pretty sad that this will be Hubble's last outings, as I usually enjoyed the pictures that I saw it produced, all vibrant and spectacular peeks into the seemingly infinite stretches of the universe. I'm sure we'll still be getting things from Hubble for a few years to come, but I suppose in some ways this is the beginning of the end."Atlantis' astronauts gingerly dropped the Hubble Space Telescope overboard... more
HOUSTON - Specially designed tools couldn't dislodge a balky bolt interfering with repairs Sunday at the Hubble Space Telescope. So spacewalkers took an approach more familiar to people puttering around down on Earth: brute force.
And it worked. But it set spacewalkers so far behind that they couldn't get all their tasks done.
Atlantis astronaut Michael Massimino couldn't remove an 1.25-inch-long (3-centimeter) bolt attaching a hand rail to the outside of a scientific instrument he needed to fix. The rail had to be removed or at least bent out of the way.
That was only the beginning of a hard-luck day. The balky bolt and other tiny problems put spacewalkers so far behind schedule that they had to abandon the second part of their spacewalk: replacing some worn insulation on the telescope.
NASA, which prides itself on being prepared, had not anticipated a bolt problem while removing the foot-and-a-half-long (45-centimeter-long) hand rail, said lead flight controller Tony Ceccacci.HOUSTON - Specially designed tools couldn't dislodge a balky bolt interfering... more
In an orbital first, astronauts opened up and installed new electronics on one of the Hubble Space Telescope's most important instruments on Saturday. But NASA must now wait for the results of a battery of tests to see if the ambitious repair job was a success.
The space shuttle Atlantis is currently orbiting Earth on an 11-day mission to refurbish Hubble and extend its life until at least 2014. This is the fifth and last mission to service the telescope, which NASA hopes will leave Hubble with its best vision yet.
After two days of spacewalks that ran over-schedule, astronauts John Grunsfeld and Andrew Feustel made short work of the repair of Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS), expected to be one of the most challenging tasks of the mission.In an orbital first, astronauts opened up and installed new electronics on one of the... more
CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida — Astronauts are getting ready for what could be the most complex spacewalking of their mission to upgrade the Hubble Space Telescope.
Astronauts John Grunsfeld and Drew Feustel will venture out of the shuttle Atlantis to work on Hubble's survey camera.
They were given an extra hour to sleep because Friday's spacewalks were expected to be long and hard.
But scientists have said Saturday's work could be some of the most intricate of the mission. The astronauts will be attempting to fix a scientific instrument while in orbit. Before, they've just swapped one instrument for another while spacewalking.
The effort involves new tools and dozens of pieces that could fly around and do damage to Hubble.CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida — Astronauts are getting ready for what could be the... more
Atlantis shuttle joins up with Hubble in Earth's orbit (Video) YouTube. The adventure is just beginning for the seven astronauts onboard the space shuttle Atlantis as they begin their mission to repair and add equipment to the Hubble Space Telescope.
Astronauts John Grunsfeld and Drew Feustel will exit the space Shuttle Atlantis Thursday morning for the first of five spacewalks to upgrade Hubble.
Thursday's main goal is to install a powerful new camera about the size of a grand piano in Hubble - one that's 30 times more powerful than the old one and capable of allowing scientists to look back more than 13 billion years to when galaxies were just starting to form.
"One of the holy grails of modern astronomy is to understand how stars first form and arrange themselves into the galaxies we see today," said CBS News space consultant Bill Harwood.
Not only can the camera peer deep into space, but it's also multi-spectral - allowing scientists to make observations in the infrared, visible and ultraviolet spectra, NASA astronaut Mike Gernhardt told CBS' The Early Show from the Johnson Space Center in Houston.Atlantis shuttle joins up with Hubble in Earth's orbit (Video) YouTube. The... more
US astronauts took off Monday at the start of a high-risk mission to service, for the last time, the Hubble telescope, which has revolutionized humankind's understanding of the universe.US astronauts took off Monday at the start of a high-risk mission to service, for the... more
Seven astronauts blasted off on the space shuttle Atlantis on Monday for one last flight to the Hubble Space Telescope — an extraordinarily ambitious mission that NASA hopes will lift the celebrated observatory to new scientific heights.
The six men and one woman who will attempt the complicated, riskier-than-usual job shouted, waved and raised their fists as they headed out to the pad, eager to get going after waiting seven months to fly. Their flight was delayed last fall, two weeks before the scheduled launch, after the orbiting telescope broke down.
The 19-year-old Hubble, last visited by astronauts seven years ago, is way overdue for a tuneup.
In this fifth and final repair mission, two spacewalking teams will replace Hubble's batteries and gyroscopes, install two new cameras and take a crack at fixing two broken science instruments, something never before attempted. Those instruments, loaded with bolts and fasteners, were not designed to be tinkered with in space.
Endeavour, the rescue ship, is ready to lift off within a week if necessary to save Atlantis' crew.Seven astronauts blasted off on the space shuttle Atlantis on Monday for one last... more
The right tools can make any job easier, and that will be especially true this week when the Hubble Space Telescope gets its last tuneup.
When space shuttle Atlantis blasts off Monday on the final flight to Hubble, the astronauts will be carrying 180 special tools, and 116 of them were designed just for this mission, which involves tricky repairs to two science instruments that were never intended to be fixed in space. Liftoff is scheduled for 2:01 p.m. EDT.
The Hubble Space Telescope was launched in 1990. It has been serviced four times before, with the last servicing mission occurring in 2002.
"Over the last few years, we've seen significant deterioration within the set of scientific instruments that we provide to the astronomical community," says David Leckrone, senior project scientist for Hubble at NASA.
He says that after this visit, if all goes well, Hubble should be more powerful than ever before.
Astronauts are scheduled to go on five spacewalks to give the telescope an upgrade that includes new batteries and gyroscopes, and additional science instruments.
But some of the most ambitious repair work involves "actually going into the very guts of instruments that have suffered failures that were never meant to be touched on orbit," says Michael Weiss, deputy program manager for Hubble at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.The right tools can make any job easier, and that will be especially true this week... more
A new Hubble image highlights striking swirling dust lanes and glittering globular clusters in oddball galaxy NGC 7049. An unusual large galaxy with a shape bordering between spiral and elliptical has been spotted by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope.A new Hubble image highlights striking swirling dust lanes and glittering globular... more
"The spectacular collision between two satellites on Feb. 10 could make the shuttle mission to fix the Hubble Space Telescope too risky to attempt.
Before the collision, space junk problems had already upped the Hubble mission's risk of a "catastrophic impact" beyond NASA's usual limits, Nature's Geoff Brumfiel reported today, and now the problem will be worse.
Mark Matney, an orbital debris specialist at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas told the publication that even before the collision, the risk of an impact was 1 in 185, which was "uncomfortably close to unacceptable levels" and the satellite collision "is only going to add on to that."
"What we've told everyone is that there is an elevated risk to virtually any satellite in low-earth orbit," Dickey said. "As far as NASA's assets are concerned, that risk is considered to be very small. I have not seen or heard anything that would lead me to think differently."
Dickey noted, however, that the mission would receive a full check out in the weeks between now and the scheduled launch.
"From a standpoint of space operations and the space shuttle program, NASA is going to treat the Hubble mission like any other Shuttle flight," Dickey said. "It's going to get a thorough risk assessment as time passes. The readiness for flight will be determined as we get closer to the [launch] date.""The spectacular collision between two satellites on Feb. 10 could make the... more
