During the 1920s,
Hermann Oberth (1894-1989) first conceived of a space telescope. As a young boy, he had read
From Earth to the Moon (by Jules Verne) and became obsessed with the idea that fiction
could become reality. And, if one could go to the Moon, why not build a telescope which could orbit in space?
A visionary thinker, Oberth’s doctoral dissertation (addressing the concept of
rocket-powered flight) was rejected by the University of Heidelberg. His professors thought Oberth’s ideas were too speculative. They, of course,
were wrong.
During the 1960s,
Lyman Spitzer
- who had previously conducted
pioneering research (in controlled thermonuclear reactions) at Princeton University - pushed both NASA and Congress to create, and deploy, a large space telescope.
His efforts ultimately
resulted in
the Hubble telescope. That Earth-orbiting observatory is named for
Edwin Hubble (1889-1953) - depicted in this undated photo watching the stars at
Palomar Mountain
- who
believed that the
universe is expanding.
Lockheed Martin
built Hubble
which is forty-three feet
tall, fourteen feet
wide and twenty-five thousand pounds. Perkin Elmer (now Hughes Danbury Optical Systems, Inc.) fabricated its
primary mirror which
measures 2.4 meters (eight feet).
After many years of
delay caused by various problems, including the
Challenger disaster, Discovery (during its STS-31 mission)
carried Hubble to space on April 24, 1990. The next day, the shuttle’s astronauts
deployed the
telescope about 353 miles (569 kilometers)
above the Earth, where it has remained
ever since.
Beginning its working life in space, Hubble
reflected sunlight on its
solar panels.
Weightless in space, traveling approximately five miles per second,
Hubble orbits the Earth
once every 97 minutes. (Follow the link to see its current location.) Because Earth’s atmosphere tends to
distort our
view “looking up,” Hubble - which is above the
atmosphere - has a much clearer
vision of objects in space. A
reflecting telescope, employing a
Cassegrain design, it is
commanded and
controlled by specialists at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in
Greenbelt, Maryland.
Although Hermann Oberth was no longer alive when Hubble was deployed,
he had lived long enough to see a model of it. And Lyman Spitzer - who was actively involved in Hubble’s creation and initial use - was recognized when the new
Spitzer Space Telescope was launched on August 25, 2003. It has
particular sensitivity (don’t miss this link) to infrared light.
So...how do these space telescopes actually work? And...is space really as colorful as those pictures we see on the evening news?