By NASA
January 6, 2022
3D animation showing the Hubble Space Telescope over the Earth. Credit: ESA/Hubble (M. Kornmesser & & L. L. Christensen).
On January 1, 2022, NASAs Hubble Space Telescope officially passed the one-billion second mark.
Hubble was deployed from the Space Shuttle Discoverys cargo bay on April 25, 1990, making it one-billion seconds (over 31 years) given that Hubble began operating. For more than 3 years, Hubble has supplied us with groundbreaking clinical discoveries and renowned pictures of space.
The very first servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope saw astronauts install a set of specialized lenses to correct the flawed primary mirror in the telescope. Credit: NASA.
Hubbles very first one-billion seconds consisted of 5 astronaut servicing missions to replace and fix parts of the telescope, and more than 1.5 million clinical observations and counting! We can only envision what discoveries the next one-billion seconds will bring as brand-new telescopes like the recently released James Webb Space Telescope and the future Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope develop upon Hubbles discoveries and collaborate with Hubble to expand our understanding of deep space.
The Hubble Space Telescope has actually transformed our understanding of deep space, its view from orbit letting loose a flood of cosmic discoveries that have actually changed astronomy permanently. From its discovery of dark energy to its quest to figure out the age of deep space, Hubble has assisted respond to a few of the most engaging astronomical questions of our time and revealed even complete stranger phenomena, opening our eyes to the splendour and mystery of space.