Hubble Space Telescopes
explanatory Essay
924 words
Doran 1
John Doran
Mr. Jurgens
English
April 4th, 2014
The Hubble Space Telescope
Centuries ago, people gazed into the night sky wondering what it was that they were looking at. When astronomers first started to study the night sky, like Galileo, Copernicus and even modern day astronomers, they all shared one goal, and that was to see further than anyone has ever before. The invention of the Hubble Space Telescope changed the study of astronomy forever. Astronomers were seeing and learning more in just days of the launch of the telescope than past astronomers had in their lifetimes. The Hubble Space Telescope is the most technologically advanced telescope to enter space. Its advanced technology has made it possible to obtain countless amounts of data about space and open many doors in the exploration of space. Its accuracy has and still is proving/debunking the myths of space.
Once NASA was given the right to start constructing The Hubble Space Telescope, or paraphrased as the HST, it cost $1.5 billion dollars to construct. The length of this massive piece of technology is 43.5ft long( 13.2m). The HST has a diameter of 14ft(4.2m) that allows it to store its hard drives, processors and other fragile technical organs inside the telescope. With its metal base, solar panels, mirrors and etc. protecting the telescopes fragile insides from floating space debris, the HST weighs in at 24,500 pounds, 11,110Kg(“The Telescope”).
Doran 2
The most technologically advanced part about the telescope is its mirrors and optical capturing system. “The HST is a large reflecting telescope whose mirror optics gather light from c...
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... with the rate at which the universe is accelerating, allows us to calculate how long it took for them to reach their current locations. The answer is about 14 billion years. The second method involves measuring the ages of the oldest star clusters. Globular star clusters orbiting our Milky Way are the oldest objects we have found and a detailed analysis of the stars they contain tells us that they formed about 13 billion years ago. The good agreement between these two very different methods is an encouraging sign that we are honing in on the universe’s true age.” Dark Energy is a theoretical repulsive force that counteracts gravity and causes the universe to expand at an accelerating rate. More is unknown than known about Dark Energy. There had been many theories about Dark Energy before HST, but no one had hard evidence. The HST provided evidence
In this essay, the author
- Explains that dark energy is a theoretical repulsive force that counteracts gravity and causes the universe to expand at an accelerating rate.
- Describes the hubble space telescope as the most technologically advanced telescope to enter space.
- Explains that hubble's telescope is a large reflecting telescope whose mirror optics gather light from celestial objects and direct it into two cameras.
- Explains that the launch of the hubble space telescope unlocked countless doors to understanding the creation and the long-term cosmos. the hst uploads 120 gigabytes of data every week.
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- The Historic Hubbleexplanatory essayAs the Hubble telescope’s life comes to a historic end, we look back at all it has done for the scientific community. The Hubble has helped scientists make many new discoveries about our universe. Galileo Galilei and Edwin Hubble were huge contributes to the astronomical community, therefore a major help in transforming the first telescope into something as amazing as the Hubble. The first telescope was perfected by Galileo in 1609, and around four hundred years later the Hubble was launched into space. Since then the Hubble has shown scientists many new discoveries about space that they would have never been able to figure out without the Hubble’s help. Since April 1990 the Hubble telescope has been greatly appreciated by the scientific community because of everything it has done. However, the Hubble has faced many problems along its way as well.
In this essay, the author
- Explains that the hubble telescope has helped scientists make many new discoveries about our universe. galileo and edwin were huge contributors to the astronomical community.
- Explains how galileo improved hans lippershey's telescope by adding a concave eyepiece and convex lenses.
- Explains that the hubble's pictures have solved many of scientists' questions. it narrowed it down to thirteen to fourteen billion years compared to the ten to twenty billion year range scientists had previously.
- Explains that the hubble's discoveries have changed the way scientists look at the universe. the telescope has helped scientists learn new things that will be useful from the day it was discovered and also in the future.
- Opines that the james webb space telescope will hopefully live up to the expectations the hubble had set with the astounding contributions to astronomy and science.
1058 wordsRead More - Newton's Telescope Essayexplanatory essayNewton’s Telescope Project Report Introduction One of the outcomes of the Newton’s work was the development of the reflecting telescopes. In essence, the earliest telescopes such as the one used by Galileo consisted of the glass lenses mounted in a tube (Jenny, et al. 12). Further, Newton discovered that when light passed through a lens, the different colors were refracted by differing amounts. In solving this problem of the chromatic aberration, Newton designed a telescope that used mirrors, rather than lenses, to bring the light to a focus. Further, the light from the object being viewed is collected by the concave primary mirror and reflected a smaller secondary plane mirror.
In this essay, the author
- Describes the objectives of the laboratory experiment to design and explain the newton's telescope.
- Explains the angular magnification of a newton's reflective telescope, which is defined as the ratio of the image seen looking through the telescope to the object viewed with the unaided eye.
- Explains that for objects outside the focal point, an inverted real image is formed, and an erect virtual image will be the outcome. the refracted rays are traveling parallel to each other.
- Explains that the magnification equation consists of 1/0+1/f = 1 / i. the virtual image formed by the convex lens is negative, whereas f is positive for the diverging mirrors.
- Explains that the ray diagrams for the concave lenses inside and outside the focal point produce erect virtual images that are smaller than the objects.
- Explains that the equation behind the image formation is illustrated as 1/0+1/f = /f. the i is positive for a real image, whereas the 0 is normally negative.
- Illustrates the formation of the image amid using two mirrors within the newton's telescope.
- Explains newton's refractive telescope, which uses mirrors, rather than lenses, to bring the light to a focus.
- Illustrates the principles behind the ray tracing techniques in the newton's telescope.
- Concludes that newton's work set the stage for future developments of the telescope. reflecting light rather than refracting it solved the problem.
- Cites atwood, jenny, ely, cassar, and escarrat's contributions to the spie astronomical telescopes+ instrumentation.
1755 wordsRead More - Dark Matter and Dark Energyexplanatory essayAstronomers are able to specify how much the universe is expanding by measuring this redshift from the spectrum of the supernova. By studying many supernova at different distances, astronomers can piece together a history of the expansion of the Universe. This expansion gave the astronomers the evidence that there is dark energy out there that cause the universe to expand.
In this essay, the author
- Explains that astronomers can estimate the total baryonic matter of the universe by studying big bang nucleosynthesis. dark matter is responsible for amplifying small fluctuations in the cosmic microwave background.
- Explains that astronomers are still in the hunt of the dark energy and dark matter but they haven’t found none. they may be able to answer the question of how it all began.
- Explains that an orrery is an astronomical tool used to show the motions of bodies within the solar system.
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- Explains that pulsars are a rapidly spinning neutron star that emits beams of radiation that crosses earth's vision.
- Explains that comets are hard to detect from the earth because they are small and icy substances. the shock of impact is sufficient to produce the energy necessary for the synthesis of complex organic compounds.
- Explains that the armillary sphere, orrery, optical and radio telescopes help us explore the universe and make us see what the naked eye can’t see.
- Explains the concept of an armillary sphere, which was used by astronomers and other scientists to comprehend the heavens.
1719 wordsRead More - The Square Kilometer Array, or SKA, is a new, powerful radio telescope that is being developed which is aimed at obtaining better sensitivity, higher dynamic range, larger field-of-view, and perhaps some other parameters not yet contemplated in the field of astronomy according to P.N Wilkinson, K.I. Kellermann, R.D. Ekers , J.M. Cordes and T. Joseph W. Lazio (2004). The SKA is highly relevant in the understanding of the universe in that it is able to explain and provide evidence for phenomena, including: cosmic webs, the Transcension Hypothesis, the forming of galaxies from gasses and the semi-analytical model.
In this essay, the author
- Explains that the square kilometer array, or ska, is a powerful radio telescope that is being developed to obtain better sensitivity, higher dynamic range, larger field-of-view and other parameters not yet contemplated in the field of astronomy.
- Explains that the ska is aimed at developing a telescope more powerful than any other previous radio telescopes.
- Explains that the square kilometre array (ska) provides the opportunity to investigate and map the low red-shift cosmic web, to full extent, and characterize the large scale structures of the universe.
- Explains the sensitivity of the ska to detect the low frequencies of diffuse synchrotron emission that arises from the in fall of baryons on large scale structures, better known as giant clusters of galaxies.
- Opines that the square kilometer array should be able to penetrate the continuum emission of natural star forming galaxies all the way to the outskirts of the universe.
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- Explains that the square kilometer array (ska) will help to remove the ambiguities in the semi-analytical model.
- Explains that the ska represents a huge leap forward in engineering and research. evidence for phenomena such as cosmic webs, trancension hypothesis, forming of galaxies from gasses, and the semi-analytical model will be provided.
- Explains that galaxies represent the highest density knots of the cosmic web as most baryons reside in a diffuse component that follows the distribution of dark matter.
- Argues that the transcending hypothesis proposes that a universal process of evolutionary development guides all sufficiently advanced civilizations increasingly into inner space.
- Explains how the square kilometer array (ska) would be useful for astrobiology in the sense that it could give further insight into different molecular species
- Explains that the square kilometer array (ska) can aid in determining the evolutionary history of active galactic nuclei (agn) from redshifts z = 0 - 6.
2015 wordsRead More - The Big Bang Theory: The Origin Of The Big Bang Theoryexplanatory essayPresently, the Big Bang theory is the most logical scientific explanation of how the universe began. The majority of cosmologists favor the Big Bang theory and the idea that the expanding universe had an initial, incredibly hot and dense start (Peterson 232). According to the Big Bang theory, at one point in time, more than 12 billion years ago, matter was condensed in a single place, and a huge explosion scattered matter out is all directions (“Big Bang Theory” 403). At the moment of its origin, the universe was infinitely dense and hot, but as the expansion occurred, the universe cooled and became less dense (Narlikar 12). The debris the spewed from the initial explosion became the building blocks of matter, forming the planets, stars, and galaxies (Narlikar 12). Officially, the Big Bang model is called the standard cosmological model (SCH), and it has been the most widely accepted theory of the origin of the universe since the 1960s (Rich and Stingl 1). Most astronomers are in agreement that the universe’s beginning can be traced back to 10 to 15 billion years ago following some type of explosive start (Narlikar 12). Big Bang theorists have estimated the actual bang occurred 13.7 billion years ago and was followed by an inflationary period that created time, matter, and space (Rich and Stingl 1).
In this essay, the author
- Explains that the big bang theory is the most logical scientific explanation of how the universe began.
- Explains lemaître's theory that the universe began with an explosion of a primeval atom, which led to an expanding universe and an explanation for the cosmic abundance of the light elements, hydrogen and helium.
- Explains how edwin hubble's findings were the first to show the huge expanse of the universe and reinforced lemaître’s theory.
- Explains how gamow, alpher, and herman studied how an initial explosion could have resulted in the cosmic abundances of helium and hydrogen.
- Explains how fred hoyle, herman bondi, and thomas gold proposed the steady-state model in 1948. the big bang theory proposed a continually expanding universe with no beginning or end.
- Explains that the big bang theory and the steady-state theory dominated scientific thinking about the origin of the universe throughout the mid-20th century.
1144 wordsRead More - Edwin Hubbleanalytical essayHubble’s devotion was mental and also physical. Hubble worked at Mount Wilson for most of his career. Here, “he spent hundreds of bone-numbing hours in the observer’s cage at Mount Wilson telescope. Anyone who has spent time in ‘the cage’ knows what an extraordinary effort of will it can demand: total concentration, and an ability to suppress shivers in the constant chill, lest you vibrate the telescope.” (Smoot 42).
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how hubble hired sandage to help him with his research, even though he was unable to use the telescope due to old age.
- Explains gleiser, marcalo, the dancing universe: from creation myths to the big bang.
- Explains that edwin powell hubble impacted the scientific world in the twentieth century because of his devotion to research, curiosity about the universe, and expertise at mapping galaxies.
- Explains that edwin hubble's curiosity about the universe started at youth and has grown.
- Introduces alter, dinsmore, cleminsha, and phillips to stephen hawking's universe: an introduction to the most remarkable scientist of our time.
- Describes greenstein, george, hawkings, stephen w., and bantams' a brief history of time.
1457 wordsRead More - The Big Bang Theory: The Beginning Of The Universeexplanatory essayWhich suggest that, the universe is expanding because the galaxies are moving away from us. So, if the universe is expanding, then it must have been much smaller in the past. Going back far enough, there was a moment when all the matter in the Universe was packed into a point and expanded outwards and that moment was the big bang. It is possible to work out when the big bang happened by the speed of the galaxies movement from each other about 14 billion years ago. We cannot really see the galaxies moving, but the clue is present in the light coming from them which is known as red
In this essay, the author
- Explains that the red shift of light gives scientists information on the speed and direction of a star.
- Explains that edwin hubble used the hooker telescope in southern california to study the andromeda galaxy in the 1920s. this evidence was the first observational support for georges lemaitre's big bang theory.
- Explains that the big bang theory reveals the beginning of the universe. the universe was formed about 14 billion years ago for a giant explosion of very dense and hot matter.
- Explains that the discovery of cosmic microwave radiation by arno penzias and robert wilson supports the theory of big bang theory.
865 wordsRead More - Scientific View of Creation and the Big Bangexplanatory essayIn 1922 a Russian physicist named Alexander Friedmann provided a set of solutions to the field equations. These solutions have served as the basis for a lot of the present day work on the big bang theory. American astronomer Edwin Hubble provided some of the strongest supporting evidence for the Big Bang Theory. In 1929 he discovered that the light of distant galaxies was shifted toward the red end of the spectrum in the Doppler Effect. This proved that the galaxies were moving away from each other. He found that galaxies farther away were moving away faster, showing that the universe is expanding uniformly. However, the universe's initial state was still unknown.
In this essay, the author
- Explains the scientific view of creation and the big bang theory, which is accepted by most scientists as the explanation for the beginning of the universe.
- Explains that the big bang theory is based on mathematical equations, known as the field equations.
- Explains that george gamow's theory worked in correlation with friedmann’s solutions in which the universe expanded from a hot, dense state. the name “the big bang theory” was coined in 1950 by british astronomer fred hoyle.
- Explains that the overall framework of the big bang theory remains unchanged, but some details of it are still being modified today.
- Explains how several scientists came up with their own solutions to einstein's field equations, including georges lemaître, willem de sitter, and alexander friedmann.
- Explains that george gamow and his students, ralph alpher and robert herman, worked out friedmann's solutions to einstein’s theory in the 1940s.
- Explains that the big bang theory tries to explain what happened at or soon after the beginning of the universe. scientists are now searching for a theory that merges quantum mechanics and gravity.
- Explains that scientists cannot look back in time beyond that early period, so the actual big bang is hidden from them.
- Explains the big bang theory, which states that the universe expanded rapidly during the first microseconds. the electroweak theory provides a unified explanation of electromagnetism and the weak nuclear force theory.
- Explains that the inflationary universe theory solves a number of problems of cosmology.
- Explains the inflationary model predicts that the universe is on the boundary between being open and closed.
- Explains that the universe cooled as it expanded, and combinations of protons and neutrons formed the isotope of hydrogen known as deuterium, as well as some of the other light elements, principally helium.
- Explains that the universe cooled to 3000° c (about 5000° f) and protons and electrons combined to make hydrogen atoms. this change set free radiation that we can detect today.
- Explains that the national aeronautics and space administration's cosmic background explorer (cobe) spacecraft mapped the cosmic background radiation between 1989 and 1993.
- Explains that evidence indicates that the matter that scientists detect in the universe is only a small fraction of all that exists.
- Explains that cosmologists think that 99 percent of the universe is dark matter, or matter that has gravity but that we cannot see or otherwise detect.
- Explains how scientists develop theoretical models to show how the universe's structures, such as clusters of galaxies, have formed.
- Explains that astronomers are making new observations that are interpreted within the framework of the big bang theory. the theory is constantly adjusted to match the observed universe.
1441 wordsRead More - The Hubble Telescope (JWST)opinionated essayAt Goddard Space Center scientists have been working have been working on the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) which is the most largest and complex project NASA has launched. Astronauts and the public have high expectations on this project. The telescope will be able to study when the earliest galaxies formed, the birth of stars and the formation of their solar systems, atmospheres of planets outside our solar system. Many things can go bad during the launch and unlike The Hubble Telescope the JWST will be too far away from Earth to fix if any difficulties happen. A goal is to see infrared light and we can’t see that on Earth because Earth’s atmosphere blocks it by the time it gets to Earth. Everything it needs to work correctly and collect
In this essay, the author
- Explains that nasa's james webb space telescope (jwst) is the largest and complex project nasa has launched. it will be able to study when the earliest galaxies formed, the birth of stars and the formation of their solar systems.
- Opines that this article is significant because so many questions about space will be answered such as what are the earliest galaxies like or more in depth things about the formation of stars.
- Explains that the article relates to the hubble space telescope and the james webb telescope because they both study things outside of our solar system.
- Opines that the james webb space telescope will affect the world because people will be learning extraordinary information that is extremely important that people never knew the answers to before.
406 wordsRead More - Dark Matter Research Paperexplanatory essayOur galaxy is over 13.51 years old the universe is 13.8 billion years old and our solar system is 4.6 billion years old. How Far Can the Human Eye See? The Earth's surface curves out of sight at a distance of 3.1 miles, or 5 kilometers. But our visual acuity extends far beyond the horizon.We can see 13.8 billion years into space because that is how long light has had to travel to reach us. Interestingly, because of the expansion of the universe, we can see much farther than 13.8 billion light years. In fact the visible universe is almost 45 billion light years in radius, centered on you. Light! Light in spaces is every we but it can take many light years to reach us.
In this essay, the author
- Explains that space is a deep dark, wide,no air habitat with nothing with gas,stars,black holes, and unhabitable planets.
- Explains that stars are big exploding balls of gas, mostly hydrogen and helium. our nearest star, the sun, is so hot that the huge amount of hydrogen is undergoing a constant star-wide nuclear reaction.
- Explains that there are three main types of galaxies: elliptical, spiral, and irregular. hubble first created the tuning fork diagram.
- Explains that hubble reveals an estimated 100 billion galaxies in the universe, but this number is likely to increase to about 200 billion as telescope technology in space improves.
- Explains that expanding space is not something that exists in its own right; it only has a meaning as the increasing distances between clusters of galaxies.
- Explains that dark matter originates from our efforts to explain the observed mismatch between the gravitational mass and the luminous mass of galaxies.
- Explains that space is a vacuum and it will take out all the air in your body. if you died in space, it would not decompose in the normal way, since there is no oxygen.
- Explains that wormholes are theoretical 'tunnels' between two points of space caused by the extreme warping in spacetime. einstein's theory of general relativity describes how space time warps around massive objects.
- Explains that wormholes' existence is only hypothesized, while we have proof of the existence of black holes.
- Explains that space is over 13.772 billion years old from a 2012 wmap discovery, and that the visible universe is almost 45 billion light years in radius.
- Explains that italian physicists say they've recorded subatomic particles that travel faster than light. if true, it would disprove einstein's theory of special relativity.
- Explains that the moon has a dark side we can't see or get too with telescopes. the moon or luna is the earth's only natural satellite and formed 4.6 billion years ago.
- Explains that gravity for saturn holds it all in one place. gravity in space is beyond different than earth's gravity.
- Explains that gravity waves were proposed by henri poincare in 1905 but were predicted by albert einstein in 1916 on his theory of relativity.
- Explains that asteroids were discovered by giuseppe piazzi in january of 1801, when he saw an object flying through space.
- Explains meteors are a bright streak of light in the sky. they are only visible because they enter earth's atmosphere. meteors come from asteroids as astronomers say.
1982 wordsRead More