Souped-Up Hubble Makes A Comeback
New images from the recently refurbished Hubble Space Telescope show that the 19-year-old observatory is now more powerful than ever.
Ever since astronauts traveled to the orbiting observatory in May and did a variety of upgrades, scientists have been testing and calibrating the telescope. At a press conference at NASA headquarters in Washington, D.C., officials released some images to demonstrate that the new and improved Hubble is working as planned.
The pictures show awe-inspiring cosmic scenes such as a "butterfly" nebula around a dying star, the stunningly colorful core of a giant star cluster, a quintet of galaxies, and a so-called pillar of creation where stars are being born.
A New Beginning
"We are giddy with the quality of the data that we have with this new telescope," says Heidi Hammel, senior research scientist at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo.
"You can already see remarkable differences between what we're seeing now and what we saw with the prior instrumentation," says David Leckrone, senior project scientist for Hubble at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland.
For example, he says, the backgrounds of some images are suddenly full of "all this stuff. There are marvelous details" that went unnoticed before.
Scientists already have plans to use the rejuvenated Hubble to study Kuiper belt objects, like Pluto, as well as the atmospheres of planets around other stars.
"Let there be no doubt that this is truly Hubble's new beginning," says Ed Weiler, associate administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate.
Hard-Earned Repairs Pay Off
Hubble has upgraded in space five times. The most recent servicing mission almost didn't happen. It was cancelled after the space shuttle Columbia disaster, because NASA officials felt going to Hubble again might be too risky. But astronomers fought the decision, hoping to keep Hubble alive. And in the end, the mission went forward.
During the final repair mission, astronauts did five tricky spacewalks. They installed a new camera and a fancy new spectrograph, and fixed two instruments that were never even designed to be repaired in space. The astronauts had to undo dozens of little screws and reach into the guts of those gadgets to replace electronic boards.
The astronauts who did all these fixes say they were amazed by the new pictures.
"I was just, 'Wow,' " says John Grunsfeld, an astrophysicist and astronaut who has gone on three Hubble repair missions. "And it was the kind of wow, the hair standing up on the back of my neck, to see the potential of this telescope now."
Astronaut Mike Massimino says that when they closed up Hubble for the last time and came home, they thought the mission had gone well. "It's really great to see the evidence that it actually does work. And those images just look great," Massimino says. "And I am so grateful that it is working and I didn't break anything."
NASA has no plans to repair Hubble again. The hope is that it will continue working until at least 2014, when the agency plans to launch the James Webb Space Telescope, a new large space observatory.
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MELISSA BLOCK, host:
This is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from NPR News. I'm Melissa Block.
ROBERT SIEGEL, host:
And I'm Robert Siegel.
The Hubble Space Telescope has been orbiting earth for 19 years and it's working better than ever, that's what NASA officials said today. They were releasing the first images taken by Hubble after astronauts refurbished it. NPR's Nell Greenfieldboyce has this story.
NELL GREENFIELDBOYCE: The Hubble Space Telescope has been upgraded five times in space, the most recent mission almost didn't happen. It was cancelled after the space shuttle Columbia disaster. NASA officials felt going to Hubble again might be too risky. But astronomers fought the decision, hoping to keep Hubble alive. And in the end, the mission went forward in May. Astronauts did five tricky spacewalks. They installed a new camera, added a fancy new spectrograph, plus fixed two other instruments. Ed Weiler heads up NASA's Science Mission Directorate. He says, after the mission was over, he kept hearing one question.
Dr. ED WEILER (Associate Administrator, Science Mission Directorate, NASA): When are we going to see the pictures? We know we've had successful spacewalks, but when will we see the pictures?
GREENFIELDBOYCE: Today, at a press conference at NASA headquarters in Washington, D.C., a music video featuring colorful new pictures flashed on a screen: faraway galaxies, a nebula shaped like a butterfly and a densely packed star cluster.
(Soundbite of music)
(Soundbite of applause)
GREENFIELDBOYCE: After a summer testing and calibrating the telescope, scientists say Hubble is now more powerful than ever before. Heidi Hammel works at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colorado.
Dr. HEIDI HAMMEL (Senior Research Scientist, Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colorado): We in the community are already starting to get our data and we are giddy with the quality of the data that we have with this new telescope.
GREENFIELDBOYCE: David Leckrone is senior project scientist for Hubble at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland. He says with the new and improved Hubble, the backgrounds of images are full of interesting detail.
Dr. DAVID LECKRONE (Senior Project Scientist for Hubble, Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA, Maryland): You can already see remarkable differences between what we're seeing now and what we saw with the prior instrumentation - just in this ability to see, oh, look what's in the background. My goodness, I didn't realize that was there.
GREENFIELDBOYCE: He says plans for future observations includes studying objects like Pluto at the edge of our solar system and analyzing the atmospheres of planets around other stars. The astronauts who did all these fixes last spring say they were amazed by the new pictures. Mike Massimino says when they closed up Hubble for the last time and came home, they thought the mission had gone well.
Mr. MIKE MASSIMINO (Astronaut): And so it's really great to see the evidence that it actually does work. And those images just look great. And I am so grateful that it is working, and that I didn't break anything.
(Soundbite of laughter)
GREENFIELDBOYCE: NASA has no plans to repair Hubble again. The hope is that it will continue working until at least 2014, that's when the agency plans to launch the James Webb Space Telescope, a new large space observatory.
Nell Greenfieldboyce, NPR News.
SIEGEL: And you can see that nebula shaped like a butterfly and more Hubble images at npr.org. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright National Public Radio.
