The Eye of Our Universe The Whirlpool Galaxy, starburst type. NASA and the Space Telescope Science Institute unitedstreaming. 2 November 2005 Marianne Scott Calloway County Middle School

Video Clip Hubble Space Telescope Video

Key Terms Astronomy- the study of all physical objects beyond Earth Galaxy- a large grouping of stars in space Constellation- a section of the sky that contains a recognizable star pattern Nebula- a large cloud of dust and gas in interstellar space; the location of star formation

More Key Terms…. Telescope- an instrument that collects electromagnetic radiation from the sky and concentrates it for better observation. Astronomical Unit- the average distance between the Earth and the sun. Light year- a unit of length equal to the distance light travels in space in 1 year Satellite- a natural or artificial body that revolves around a planet

Hubble Telescope Facts The Hubble Space Telescope was named after Edwin Hubble ( ), an astronomer whose contributions to astronomy include a classification system for galaxies.TelescopeEdwin Hubbleastronomergalaxies The Hubble Telescope orbits the Earth 370 miles above the Earth’s rippling atmosphere at 5 miles a second. It orbits the globe every 97 minutes. Hubble is roughly the size of a large school bus. It was launched into orbit on the space shuttle, Discovery, on April 1990

More Hubble Facts Scientists decided to put the Hubble in space to eliminate distortions to images caused by turbulence in the Earth’s atmosphere. Hubble pictures require no film. The telescope takes digital images, which are transmitted to scientists on Earth.

Hubble finds many bright clouds on Uranus A Hubble telescope infrared view of Uranus reveals that the planet is surrounded by its four major rings and by 10 of its 17 known satellites. Hubble recently found about 20 clouds — nearly as many clouds on Uranus as the previous total in the history of modern observations. The orange-colored clouds near the prominent bright band circle the planet at more than 300 mph (500 km/h). One of the clouds on the right-hand side is brighter than any other cloud ever seen on Uranus. Credit: Erich Karkoschka (University of Arizona) and NASA NASA

Saturn Object Description:Planet Distance:The semi-major axis of Saturn's orbit about the sun is 9.5 Astronomical Units (A.U.) or roughly 1.4 billion km. Dimensions:The planet (without rings) has a diameter of roughly 75,000 miles (120,000 km) at the equator. Exposure Dates:Oct 1996, Oct 1997, Oct 1998, Nov 1999, Nov 2000

Cat’s Eye Nebula As if the Cat's Eye itself isn't spectacular enough, this new image taken with Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) reveals the full beauty of a bull's eye pattern of eleven or even more concentric rings, or shells, around the Cat's Eye. Each 'ring' is actually the edge of a spherical bubble seen projected onto the sky -- that's why it appears bright along its outer edge gallery.html

Edge-On Galaxy Object Name:NGC 4013 Object Description:Edge-on Spiral Galaxy Constellation:Ursa Major Distance:About 17 Mpc (55 million light-years) Dimensions:The visible portion of the galaxy is 10.7 kpc (35,000 light-years) along its length. gallery.html

What do you think? Scientists used to think that our Milky Way galaxy was the entire universe. Hubble made a significant jump in our understanding the solar system and beyond. Defend this position. Describe what impact Hubble’s discoveries have made for modern astronomy.

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