What is the Hubble Space Telescope?
The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) is a space telescope that was carried into orbit by the Space Shuttle Discovery in April 1990. It is named after the American astronomer Edwin Hubble. Although it is not the first space telescope, the Hubble is one of the largest and most versatile, and is well-known as both a vital research tool and a public relations boon for astronomy. The HST is a collaboration between NASA and the European Space Agency, and is one of NASA’s Great Observatories, along with the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory, the Chandra X-ray Observatory, and the Spitzer Space Telescope.
The Hubble Space Telescope is the first observatory (a place from which astronomical observations are made) to be sent into orbit in space. It was named for Edwin Powell Hubble (1889–1953), an American astronomer (a scientist specializing in the study of matter in outer space) who observed that the universe is expanding. The Hubble was launched on April 25, 1990, from the space shuttle Discovery. The telescope (an instrument for viewing objects in space) has a 7.9-foot (26-meter) mirror that allows it to make observations twenty-four hours a day. The mirror is always clear and has perfect vision. The observatory also has two high-resolution cameras and two spectrographs (instruments for observing and monitoring light spectrums). About a month after the Hubble was launched, however, it encountered problems. On June 27, 1990, the National Aeronautics and Space …
