It also, of course, continues to dazzle us with stunning pictures of stars, galaxies and planets. Scientists have used Hubble to observe the most distant stars and galaxies as well as the planets in our solar system.ĭata and from the orbiting telescope are the backbone of more than 15,000 technical papers. The telescope has had a major impact on every area of astronomy, from the solar system to objects at the edge of the universe. Its domain extends from the ultraviolet, through the visible, and to the near-infrared. Hubble can see far more than what we can with our eyes. Far above the distortion of Earth's atmosphere, clouds and light pollution, Hubble has an unobstructed view of the universe. The first major optical telescope to be placed in space, Hubble operates from the ultimate mountaintop. The Hubble Space Telescope's launch and deployment in April 1990 marked the most significant advancement in astronomy since Galileo's telescope. May 20, 1990: First image, Star cluster NGC 3532ĭecember 1993: Servicing Mission 1 (STS-61)įebruary 1997:Servicing Mission 2 (STS-82)ĭecember 1999: Servicing Mission 3A (STS-103)įebruary 2002: Servicing Mission 3B (STS-109)Ī 3D model of NASA's Hubble Space Telescope Credit: NASA Visualization Technology Applications and Development (VTAD) First telescope designed to be repaired in spaceĪpril 25, 1990: Deployment from Space Shuttle Discovery.Goddard High Resolution Spectrograph ( GHRS) Wide Field and Planetary Camera 1 ( WFPC1)Ħ. Corrective Optics Space Telescope Axial Replacement ( COSTAR)Ĥ. Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 ( WFPC2)ģ. Near Infrared Camera and Multi-object Spectrometer. Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS)ĥ. The spacecraft completes 15 orbits per day – approximately one every 95 minutes.Ĥ.Hubble orbits about 350 miles (560 kilometers) above Earth’s surface.Hubble is a Cassegrain reflector telescope.Hubble continues to provide images of unprecedented resolution from which many new and exciting discoveries have been made.Hubble was launched on April 24, 1990, in the cargo bay of Space Shuttle Discovery and deployed the following day.Hubble continues to operate high above the blurring effects of Earth’s atmosphere. NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope is the first astronomical observatory placed into orbit around Earth with the ability to record images in wavelengths of light spanning from ultraviolet to near-infrared.

Nasa space shuttle pictures