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Hubble Makes Millionth Observation

Posted by Unknown on from the not-bad-for-an-american-telescope dept.

sfcrazy wrote in with an article about the Hubble telescope. From the article: "NASA's Hubble Space Telescope crossed another milestone in its space odyssey of exploration and discovery. On Monday, July 4, the Earth-orbiting observatory logged its one millionth science observation during a search for water in an exoplanet's atmosphere 1,000 light-years away."

25 of 38 comments (clear)

  1. Hope it doesn't break again. by jra · · Score: 2

    It'll be awfully hard to fix...

    1. Re:Hope it doesn't break again. by JoshuaZ · · Score: 2

      Hubble has done a very good job and is getting old. The technology has been vastly improved since when Hubble was first put in space. That's why we can have a lot of different space based instruments now, whereas when Hubble was put up it was the primary one. When Hubble finally becomes too damaged for effective use, we will have many other instruments. We already have Spitzer http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spitzer_Space_Telescope and will have the James Webb Telescope around 2018 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Webb_Telescope . Webb will be able to image far fainter objects than Hubble and in far more detail. I'm not that worried about Hubble breaking. It has done a very good job and served humanity well.

    2. Re:Hope it doesn't break again. by TheDarkNose · · Score: 1

      I assume they won't bother since it's being replaced soon(ish).

      --
      "Obviously, you need to be an Einstein to navigate the Austrian Patent Office website." - platinumrat
    3. Re:Hope it doesn't break again. by camperdave · · Score: 1

      Hmm... Can a Dragon module have a Canadarm2 mounted on it? I suppose they could build a special purpose trunk module with a Power Data Grapple Fixture on it, if they really needed to.

      --
      When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
    4. Re:Hope it doesn't break again. by rubycodez · · Score: 1

      without a space shuttle? I'd go with hard

    5. Re:Hope it doesn't break again. by Crookdotter · · Score: 1

      Will JWST be able to produce images that fire the imagination of the public like Hubble, being IR? The science will be better, sure, but it seems like the US needs prodding to fund space exploration which Hubble seemed to do by the bucketload.

    6. Re:Hope it doesn't break again. by IrquiM · · Score: 1

      Guess you haven't read the latest; http://www.spacenews.com/civil/110706-nasa-budget-cancel-webb.html

      --
      This is blinging
  2. Artist's Concept by Spiflicator · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Why does it seem like every time I read an article about space imaging, there is an artist's rendition, instead of an actual rendition of the image?

    1. Re:Artist's Concept by lucian1900 · · Score: 5, Informative

      Because the actual image isn't in wavelenghts you can see, has crap resolution and often results indirectly from other information.

    2. Re:Artist's Concept by Lord+Crc · · Score: 5, Informative

      Why does it seem like every time I read an article about space imaging, there is an artist's rendition, instead of an actual rendition of the image?

      The actual image would most likely be of the star itself, and usually is just a few pixels wide. Not a lot for people to look at.

      However by observing those pixels over a long time they may see changes in the color / spectrum indicating the vapors in the atmosphere of the planet when it passes in front of the star.

      Here's a Hubble image of an actual exoplanet, 25 light years away. The exoplanet they're imaging in the story here is 1000 light years away...

    3. Re:Artist's Concept by deadhammer · · Score: 1

      Here's a Hubble image of an actual exoplanet, 25 light years away. The exoplanet they're imaging in the story here is 1000 light years away...

      Psst, don't tell Gandalf, but I think we've found where Sauron went after Barad Dur was destroyed.

      --
      I'll be honest, we're throwing science against the wall to see what sticks. -Cave Johnson
    4. Re:Artist's Concept by camperdave · · Score: 1

      Here's a copy of the real image. Please note that it is a photo-negative: [ . ]

      HAND.

      --
      When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
    5. Re:Artist's Concept by Spiflicator · · Score: 1

      I get that, which is why I said a "rendition" of the image. Maybe its just that they haven't ever processed the image into anything interesting by the time they issue a press release. Personally, I'd rather see a "real" image than an artist's rendering. I feel like an artist's rendering is what you show on cnn.com, while hubblesite.org, or nasa,gov might show the real thing...

    6. Re:Artist's Concept by psithurism · · Score: 1

      I get grumpy about the fact that news feels like they have to protect me from the actual science. They need artists to render what some other dudes imagination thinks the planet might look like. I know scrutinizing those pixels and running their color changes through really long boring formulas was tedious and I don't plan to replicate it, but until I came and read your comment, I wouldn't have known they did any of that.

    7. Re:Artist's Concept by Rich0 · · Score: 1

      Well, even the target is probably contrived to make for an interesting press release.

      If they didn't tweak the sequence the millionth observation would probably be something like "routine image of empty space for dark current calibration" or "routine image of boring star to calibrate sensor xyz" or whatever. I'm sure the schedule was shuffled to make for better reading in the news...

  3. What was it? by billsayswow · · Score: 2

    The One Millionth Observation? "What's the deal with airline food [...]" The 1,000,001st was about how women are different than men, followed by an anecdote about the Hubble, its spouse, and brushing teeth.

  4. Text of the actual observation Hubble made by Jay+L · · Score: 1

    "What is the deal with rental car reservations? They never have your car when you show up. It's like they know how to take your reservation, but they don't know how to hold your reservation." -- Hubble

  5. Re:Shut it down now! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Shut down that orbital pork barrel and give me a tax cut!

    Vote Tea Party!

    Let's do some quick math here (and I'm going to estimate high so you get all the benefit of the doubt):

    $6 billion total expenditure to date / 21 years in service = $285,714,286/year

    $285,714,286 / 90 million tax payers in USA = $3.17/yearly tax burden

    It is difficult to believe that for a $3 change in taxes, you're willing to give up all of the research and scientific good that has come from it. I sincerely doubt the Tea Party believes that either.

  6. Re:another base 10 milestone.... by rubycodez · · Score: 1

    it's a good heads up for an all-important base 2 milestone, the soon to be reached 2^20 observations, so quit yer whining.

  7. Re:Shut it down now! by Fujisawa+Sensei · · Score: 2

    If you believe that, you don't know enough teabaggers.

    --
    If someone is passing you on the right, you are an asshole for driving in the wrong lane.
  8. Re:Shut it down now! by 228e2 · · Score: 1

    Well, thats only an average. Me and B. Gates aren't quite in the same tax bracket.

    --
    Since when does being a Socialist mean 'someone who has a different opinion than me'?
  9. Re:Shut it down now! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    If it could be de-orbited onto a line of medicare claimants the tax cut could be much greater!

  10. in the words of by nimbius · · Score: 1

    the curiousity core: "oooooooh! what is THAT!?"

    --
    Good people go to bed earlier.
  11. Whooptifreakingdoo by DarthVain · · Score: 1

    There is another observation for you...

  12. Re:Shut it down now! by Kilrah_il · · Score: 1

    Some of us are in the same tax bracket as B. Gates, you insensitive clod!

    --
    Whenever in an argument, remember this.