TWINKLE, TWINKLE LITTLE STAR...
Today marks the 15th anniversary of the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), and 11 years after its initial optical problems were fixed. A joint venture between the US and Europe, this eye in the sky has given us over 750,000 observations, many of which can be enjoyed at the Hubble Gallery here. Do spend a few minutes here when you can...it does put things in a different perspective.
One of my favorite Hubble images has long been the "Pillars of Creation" picture of the Eagle nebula, shown below (click for larger image).
Named after Edwin P. Hubble, who discovered that the universe is expanding, among other accomplishments, the HST has had its share of astronomical discoveries. For more things Hubble, check out this site along with Space.com's 15th anniversary piece.
If all goes well, HST should give us six more years of scientific exploration, until the baton is passed to the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) in 2011. The JWST will weigh only half as much as the Hubble, but have a primary mirror five times as large. James E. Webb, in case you were wondering, headed NASA in arguably its proudest decade, the race to the moon.
Happy birthday, Hubble...here's a poem from Scotland to celebrate:
HUBBLE’S GAZES ©
Baba
Stewarton, Scotland
2004Heavenly bodies that we spy
Up above our cloudy sky
Bring to life our night time view
But we can only see a few
Like to see the lot would we
Every single one we plea
So science gave the telescope
Giving more than we could cope
And now we see those whizzing stars
Zooming rocks, the moons of Mars
Each and all those stellar things
Show us that the cosmos sings
I particularly like "Illusions", from the Conduct of Life (1860), by Ralph Waldo Emerson, when thinking about Hubble and the heavens.
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