The Hubble SpaceTelescope is a highly successful NASA program that has delivered everything promised
by its creators and more. The first reflecting telescope in space has
been responsible for many spectacular discoveries that advanced scientist's knowledge of astronomy.
The telescope, launched
in 1990, uses two mirrors to collect light that is then directed to various
sensors and instruments that collect the information. Not long after the HST
was operating, it was discovered that the primary mirror had a flaw and the
images sent back were fuzzy, not sharp as expected. That meant that the main
mission of getting sharp images, undistorted by Earth’s atmosphere, could not
be completed.
The diagram above shows that the edges were four microns too flat. It was decided that the vision problem with the HST could be corrected with lenses that would function much like eyeglasses do with humans. So a shuttle mission was launched to capture the telescope and have astronauts place the corrective lenses in the proper positions. The lenses were actually small carefully designed mirrors that corrected the focal point of the primary mirror. The optical qualities of glass allowed the HST to first, be conceived, and then to correct a mistake that enabled it to fulfill its primary mission of producing sharp, undistorted images of objects deep in space.
http://hubblesite.org/gallery/
References
http://pds.jpl.nasa.gov/planets/captions/hubble/hst01.htm
The diagram above shows that the edges were four microns too flat. It was decided that the vision problem with the HST could be corrected with lenses that would function much like eyeglasses do with humans. So a shuttle mission was launched to capture the telescope and have astronauts place the corrective lenses in the proper positions. The lenses were actually small carefully designed mirrors that corrected the focal point of the primary mirror. The optical qualities of glass allowed the HST to first, be conceived, and then to correct a mistake that enabled it to fulfill its primary mission of producing sharp, undistorted images of objects deep in space.
http://hubblesite.org/gallery/
 |
| Hubble Space Telescope in Orbit |
References
http://pds.jpl.nasa.gov/planets/captions/hubble/hst01.htm
How interesting. The Hubble telescope has glasses. Glad they could fix the problem
ReplyDeleteInteresting information on a scientific use of glass.
ReplyDeleteI agree with David. I didn't know that telescopes had glasses. Cool information!!
ReplyDeleteReally cool use of glass used for such a 'out of world' application.
ReplyDeleteMost students wouldn't think that something like this would have much to do with the glass industry when in fact, glass is the most important part!
ReplyDelete