Hubble Telescope Information

The Hubble Space Telescope or HST is a astronomy telescope which has captivated mans imagination of the heavens. The beauty of the universe has come into our lives thanks to the awesome pictures from the Edwin Hubble Telescope. Learn more about Hubble and learn the key Edwin Hubble Telescope facts in this article.

::: Why Is The Edwin Hubble Telescope Called Hubble? :::
This is a question that many people have, and want to know why it is called the Edwin Hubble Telescope. Well the Hubble name is not a scientific term! Though it is attributed with someone import in the field of science. And that is Edwin Hubble.

Edwin Hubble an American astronomer was a doctor who confirmed that the universe is indeed expanding. Edwin Hubble who was born 1889 and lived to 1953, is an important part of what has become the big bang theory. The big bang theory being that the universe started with literally a big bang (13.7 billion years ago), and expanded to what we have today.

::: Key Dates For The Edwin Hubble Telescope :::
The Edwin Hubble Telescope was launched on 24 April 1990. The cost was $1.5 billion US dollars, and required the help of hundreds of people to make it so.

Having launched the Edwin Hubble Telescope on the 24 of April 1990, the Edwin Hubble Telescope was deployed the next day on April 25 1990. The designated amount of time for the mission was 20 years; which makes the Edwin Hubble Telescope to come to decommissioning about the year 2010.

The Edwin Hubble Telescope also has had some important servicing missions. Servicing mission 1 began on December 1993. The second servicing mission - servicing mission 2 began on February 1997. The third servicing mission - called Servicing mission 3A, began on December 1999. And the last servicing mission for the Edwin Hubble Telescope was on February 2002, and was called Servicing mission 3B.

::: The Dimensions Of The Edwin Hubble Telescope :::
The Edwin Hubble Telescope is quite a large instrument. With a length of 43.5 feet, and a diameter of 14 feet, it is near to the size of a school bus! The Edwin Hubble Telescope weighs 11,110 kg. Even though the Edwin Hubble Telescope has a weight of 11,110 kg, in space, it is light as a feather.

::: Some More Amazing Facts About The Edwin Hubble Telescope :::
The Edwin Hubble Telescope moves at a speed of 5 miles per second, around the Earth! It only takes the Edwin Hubble Telescope 97 minutes to make 1 revolution around the Earth. And the Edwin Hubble Telescope has a speed of 17,500 mph! Nothing on land and sea can approach those speeds, currently that we know of.

The Edwin Hubble Telescope can look at everything, within its limitations, but it can not view the Sun and Mercury.

The first image that the Edwin Hubble Telescope took a picture of, was a star cluster. On the 20th of May 1990, less than a month of being deployed, the Edwin Hubble Telescope took a picture of Star Cluster NGC 3532.

The pictures from the Edwin Hubble Telescope are simply amazing, and show us parts of the universe which would be impossible to visit in today's world! Looking at the Edwin Hubble Telescope facts, we see many great things, this astronomy telescope has given us.