If you look further and further, you also look more and more towards the past. If the number of galaxies, the densities and properties of those galaxies and other cosmic properties, such as the temperature and the expansion rate of the universe, did not seem to change, would have evidence of a universe that was constant in time. (Credit: NASA/ESA. Feild (STSCI))
When the Hubble space telescope was launched for the first time in 1990, there was much we didn’t know. This is how far we have come.
On April 24, 1990, the Hubble Space Telescope launched at the low terrestrial orbit.
Press in or click to see the image in full size
This photo shows the Hubble space telescope that is being deployed, on April 25, 1990, one day after its launch. It was taken by the IMAX Chamber Bay (ICBC) mounted aboard the discovery of the space ferry. Originally launched at an altitude of ~ 620 km, Hubble is now approximately ~ 100 kilometers lower from May 2024, and will continue its orbital decomposition due to atmospheric resistance. (Credit: NASA/Smithsonian Institution/Lockheed Corporation)
Originally, a defect in the optics led to disappointed and blurred images.
Press in or click to see the image in full size
The difference from before and then between the original Hubble (left) view with the mirror failures, and the corrected images (right) after the appropriate optics were applied. The first service mission, in 1993, brought Hubble’s true power to the avant -garde of astronomy, where he has remained since then. (Credit: NASA/STSCI)
But later, the service missions transformed Hubble into the legendary observatory that we all know.
Press in or click to see the image in full size
Pluto, which is shown with Hubble images in a compound mosaic, along with its five moons. Charon, the largest, must be photographed with pluto in a completely different filter due to its brightness. The four smaller moons orbit this binary system with a factor of 1,000 more exposure time to remove them. Nix and Hydra were discovered in 2005, with kerberos discovered in 2011 and Styx in 2012. These five moons were probably formed through an early collision, instead of in situ or as a result of gravitational capture. (Credit: NASA, ESA and M. Showalter (SETI))
The universe shows us, answering many of our deepest questions.
Press in or click to see the image in full size
This deep field region of the Business Field contains 18 galaxies that form stars so fast that the number of stars inside will double in just 10 million years: only 0.1% The life of the universe. The deepest points of view of the universe, as the space telescopes reveal, lead us back to the early history of the universe, where stars formation rates were much greater than today, but at least 1% of the cumulative stars of the universe had already been formed. Many of the most distant galaxies are very close to other foreground galaxies, whose mass distorts and magnifies the light of background objects. (Credit: NASA, ESA, A. Van Der Wel (Max Planck Institute of Astronomy), H. Ferguson and A. Koekemoe (Institute of Space Telescope Sciences) and the Candeles team)
Finally we know what is in the deepest depths of space.
