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Science (non-SETI) :
Hubble still making discoveries
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Author | Message |
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Bob DeWoody Send message Joined: 9 May 10 Posts: 3387 Credit: 4,182,900 RAC: 10 |
Recently released Hubble find. Most distant galaxy yet GN-Z11. http://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2016/hubble-team-breaks-cosmic-distance-record Bob DeWoody My motto: Never do today what you can put off until tomorrow as it may not be required. This no longer applies in light of current events. |
Lynn Send message Joined: 20 Nov 00 Posts: 14162 Credit: 79,603,650 RAC: 123 |
Hubble Peers into the Mouth of Leo A At first glance, this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image seems to show an array of different cosmic objects, but the speckling of stars shown here actually forms a single body — a nearby dwarf galaxy known as Leo A. Its few million stars are so sparsely distributed that some distant background galaxies are visible through it. Leo A itself is at a distance of about 2.5 million light-years from Earth and a member of the Local Group of galaxies; a group that includes the Milky Way and the well-known Andromeda galaxy. http://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2016/hubble-peers-into-the-mouth-of-leo-a |
Lynn Send message Joined: 20 Nov 00 Posts: 14162 Credit: 79,603,650 RAC: 123 |
Love this bubble. :-) Hubble Sees a Star ‘Inflating’ a Giant Bubble For the 26th birthday of NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers are highlighting a Hubble image of an enormous bubble being blown into space by a super-hot, massive star. The Hubble image of the Bubble Nebula, or NGC 7635, was chosen to mark the 26th anniversary of the launch of Hubble into Earth orbit by the STS-31 space shuttle crew on April 24, 1990 https://youtu.be/1rZz23xw_XQ Video http://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2016/hubble-sees-a-star-inflating-a-giant-bubble |
Lynn Send message Joined: 20 Nov 00 Posts: 14162 Credit: 79,603,650 RAC: 123 |
Hubble Discovers Moon Orbiting the Dwarf Planet Makemake Peering to the outskirts of our solar system, NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has spotted a small, dark moon orbiting Makemake, the second brightest icy dwarf planet — after Pluto — in the Kuiper Belt. The moon — provisionally designated S/2015 (136472) 1 and nicknamed MK 2 — is more than 1,300 times fainter than Makemake. MK 2 was seen approximately 13,000 miles from the dwarf planet, and its diameter is estimated to be 100 miles across. Makemake is 870 miles wide. The dwarf planet, discovered in 2005, is named for a creation deity of the Rapa Nui people of Easter Island. http://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2016/hubble-discovers-moon-orbiting-the-dwarf-planet-makemake |
Julie Send message Joined: 28 Oct 09 Posts: 34053 Credit: 18,883,157 RAC: 18 |
Recently released Hubble find. Most distant galaxy yet GN-Z11. A discovery they thought only the JWST could find, amazing. rOZZ Music Pictures |
tullio Send message Joined: 9 Apr 04 Posts: 8797 Credit: 2,930,782 RAC: 1 |
A team from the Space Telescope Science Institute has measured the Hubble constant observing both Cepheid stars and Type Ia supernovae, finding it is greater than previous measurements made by the NASA WMAP satellite and ESA Planck spacecraft, which are smaller by 5% and 9% respectively. The new value is 45.5 miles/second per megaparsec, which is 3.26 millions light years. The uncertainty is only 2.4%. This means that either the expansion of the universe is accelerating, or that the Einstein's field equations are not correct. Tullio |
janneseti Send message Joined: 14 Oct 09 Posts: 14106 Credit: 655,366 RAC: 0 |
Looks like scientists are back to the drawing board. But scientists like that. The consequences could be very significant for our understanding of the shadowy contents of our unruly universe. It may mean that dark energy is shoving galaxies away from each other with even greater — or growing — strength. Or, the early cosmos may contain a new type of subatomic particle referred to as "dark radiation." A third possibility is that "dark matter," an invisible form of matter that makes up the bulk of our universe, possesses some weird, unexpected characteristics. Finally, Einstein's theory of gravity may be incomplete. |
tullio Send message Joined: 9 Apr 04 Posts: 8797 Credit: 2,930,782 RAC: 1 |
NASA has the bad habit of using Imperial units, such as miles. The result is that the value of the Hubble constant, expressed in km/s/Mpc varies from 73.2 km/s/Mpc on La Repubblica newspaper to a more correct 66.53+/- 0.62 on theregister.co.uk. It depends on the mile unit value used for the translation in km/s/Mpc. We non-imperials often do not use the correct value. Tullio |
janneseti Send message Joined: 14 Oct 09 Posts: 14106 Credit: 655,366 RAC: 0 |
In the press release from NASA they actually use SI-units. http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2016/17/full/ The improved Hubble constant value is 73.2 kilometers per second per megaparsec. (A megaparsec equals 3.26 million light-years.) The new value means the distance between cosmic objects will double in another 9.8 billion years. |
tullio Send message Joined: 9 Apr 04 Posts: 8797 Credit: 2,930,782 RAC: 1 |
Then La Repubblica was right and theregister.co.uk was wrong. Tullio |
tullio Send message Joined: 9 Apr 04 Posts: 8797 Credit: 2,930,782 RAC: 1 |
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Bob DeWoody Send message Joined: 9 May 10 Posts: 3387 Credit: 4,182,900 RAC: 10 |
I wonder what exactly it would take to keep the Hubble telescope in orbit indefinitely until at some later date it could become the cornerstone of a space museum. It may be losing its scientific significance but it would be a shame to just let it burn up after all its accomplishments. Bob DeWoody My motto: Never do today what you can put off until tomorrow as it may not be required. This no longer applies in light of current events. |
tullio Send message Joined: 9 Apr 04 Posts: 8797 Credit: 2,930,782 RAC: 1 |
Probably it is a question of funding, as for many other telescopes. Bigger and newer telescopes cost a lot of money, and funding is scarce, unless a Yuri Milner billionaire intervenes to save older telescopes, as he has already done. Tullio |
TheHoosh Send message Joined: 17 Aug 12 Posts: 12 Credit: 11,693,138 RAC: 0 |
I don't think that this is just a matter of funding. If I'm not mistaken, the HST requires frequent maintenance, i.e. sending someone up every few years to perform upgrades, repairs, etc. However, since the fleet of space shuttles has been retired and there is no other space craft with similar capabilities (i.e. a robot arm to fixate the HST, the possibility to stay in orbit for an extened period of time with a big enough crew, etc.), it is not possible to perform such maneuvers at the moment. |
Bob DeWoody Send message Joined: 9 May 10 Posts: 3387 Credit: 4,182,900 RAC: 10 |
I don't think that this is just a matter of funding. If I'm not mistaken, the HST requires frequent maintenance, i.e. sending someone up every few years to perform upgrades, repairs, etc. I wasn't thinking of another maintenance mission, which I know is now impossible, but rather sending up some sort of robotic tug boat that could attach itself to the Hubble and move it way out beyond all the traffic in LEO and let it reside there until space technology and traffic advances to the point where it could be part of a space museum. Bob DeWoody My motto: Never do today what you can put off until tomorrow as it may not be required. This no longer applies in light of current events. |
tullio Send message Joined: 9 Apr 04 Posts: 8797 Credit: 2,930,782 RAC: 1 |
I think that now America is devoting its efforts to the James Webb Space Telescope, which should be launched in 2018 if I am not mistaken. It should advance astronomy and the search for habitable exoplanets, which is becoming the focus of astronomy. Museums are not that important. Tullio |
rob smith Send message Joined: 7 Mar 03 Posts: 22218 Credit: 416,307,556 RAC: 380 |
The problem with LEO orbits is that they are subject to the minute drag from the residual part of Earth's atmosphere, one would have to boost out to somewhere beyond geostationary for any long term parking. One issue is that HST will run out of fuel or coolant some day. The safest thing to do is have enough fuel in reserve for a big retardation burn and hit the atmosphere at a steep angle (to prevent skip), but with enough velocity to ensure complete burn-up of the larger (harder) components. Bob Smith Member of Seti PIPPS (Pluto is a Planet Protest Society) Somewhere in the (un)known Universe? |
Julie Send message Joined: 28 Oct 09 Posts: 34053 Credit: 18,883,157 RAC: 18 |
In the press release from NASA they actually use SI-units. Very interesting article! rOZZ Music Pictures |
tullio Send message Joined: 9 Apr 04 Posts: 8797 Credit: 2,930,782 RAC: 1 |
Hubble has no coolant, not being an IR telescope. It has fuel,yes, to keep it pointed. The JWST shall have coolant, and this adds to its mass. Tullio |
Bob DeWoody Send message Joined: 9 May 10 Posts: 3387 Credit: 4,182,900 RAC: 10 |
I think that now America is devoting its efforts to the James Webb Space Telescope, which should be launched in 2018 if I am not mistaken. It should advance astronomy and the search for habitable exoplanets, which is becoming the focus of astronomy. Museums are not that important. Museums are how we remember the accomplishments of our forebearers. The USS Constitution sitting in Boston harbor is of no use as a warship and hasn't been for over 150 years, the same can be said about the HMS Victory but they have been preserved as a memorial to the service they gave to their countries in their day. Some relics of the past have earned the right to be preserved and I think the Hubble telescope merits consideration as an object that should be preserved for future generations to admire. Sure it would be expensive to plan an execute such a project as it hasn't been cheap to keep other historical objects preserved for future generations to admire and take wonder at. Bob DeWoody My motto: Never do today what you can put off until tomorrow as it may not be required. This no longer applies in light of current events. |
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