1. A student project

2. What is a space telescope?  A space telescope is a telescope that orbits around Earth in space.  Like other telescopes they take pictures of far away celestial objects.  They don’t take visual images, they take images of the different kinds of light radiation objects emit.

3. What is a space telescope? cont.  Very sophisticated machines, require precise mathematics.  In 1990, there was 1/50 th of a hair defect on one of the lenses of Hubble, took two years to repair.  Powered by photo voltaic cells which transform light energy into electrical energy.

4. Why telescopes are sent to space  Telescopes are sent to space to get above the Earth’s atmosphere.  Gather information from the light that does not reach the Earth’s surface.  Gamma Rays, X-Rays and Ultraviolet Light blocked by the upper atmosphere are best observed from space.

6. Frequencies of light  Astronomical space observation is grouped by major frequency ranges:  Gamma Rays  X-Rays  Ultraviolet  Visible  Infrared  Microwaves  Radio waves

7. Hubble Space Telescope (HST)  It is the size of a school bus.  Space telescopes were proposed as early as 1923.  Hubble began being funded as early as the 1970s.  Scheduled to launch in 1983, however the project was held back due to budget problems and the Challenger disaster.  Finally launched in 1990—however mirrors were fabricated incorrectly.  In 1993, The first ever manned space repair mission was sent to Hubble with five astronauts aboard one of NASA’s space shuttles, the Columbia.

8. Hubble Space Telescope cont.  Fixed in 1993 and re-launched  Four servicing missions were performed from 1993-2002  Fifth canceled on safety grounds following the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster.  2009—Final servicing mission completed

9. James Webb Space Telescope (JWST)  JWST is a large, infrared- optimized space telescope.  Scheduled to launch in 2014, will be replacement for Hubble.  JWST will have a large mirror-6.5 meters in diameter and a sunshield the size of a tennis court.  Will orbit 1.5 million km from the Earth.  Will have an orbit around the Earth, Moon, and the Sun.

10. JWST  JWST will find the first galaxies that formed the early Universe  Connect the Big Band to our own Milky Way galaxy  The future telescope will peer through dusty clouds to see stars forming planetary systems  Connect the Milky way to our Solar System.

11. National Geographic Documentary  http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/pl ayer/science/space-sci/exploration/hubble- sci.html http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/pl ayer/science/space-sci/exploration/hubble- sci.html