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After 15 Years, The Humble Space Telescope Can No Longer Be Powered Up (twitter.com)

Long-time Slashdot reader frank249 brings some news from Diana Dragomir, a Hubble Fellow at the MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research: Diana Dragomir tweeted that the MOST Telescope "can no longer be powered up. It's had a long life, overshooting its planned one-year lifespan by a factor of 15!"

The MOST Space Telescope (which stands for Microvariability and Oscillation of Stars) was launched into space in 2003. It was the first Canadian scientific satellite in orbit in 33 years, and it is the first space telescope to be entirely designed and built in Canada. About the size and shape of a large suitcase, the satellite weighs only 54 kilograms and is equipped with an ultra high precision telescope that measures only 15 centimetres in diameter (thus the nickname "humble space telescope").

Despite its diminutive size, it is [was?] ten times more sensitive than the Hubble Space Telescope in detecting the minuscule variations in a star's luminosity caused by vibrations that shake its surface.

Interestingly, when the Most telescope first launched back in 2003 -- it was the same long-time Slashdot reader frank249 who submitted the story.

60 comments

  1. THE HUMBLE SPACE TELESCOPE by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

    Hey man, sure I'm a multi-million dollar space telescope, but I put my pants on just like any of you ant-like idiots down there... yeah who are we kidding. Go fuck yourselves, you're destroying the planet. I'll be up here, burning to death also.

  2. Re:Headline wrong? by Tablizer · · Score: 2

    I suspect it's a click-bait trick. "Humble" will often be mistaken for "Hubble".

  3. Humble by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "Humble" space telescope eh?

    1. Re: humble by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    2. Re:Humble by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ...equipped with an ultra high precision telescope that measures only 15 centimetres in diameter (thus the nickname "humble space telescope")

      Umm, yes. Your point?

    3. Re:Humble by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 1

      If it's "ultra high precision", it's not 15 centimeters in diameter, and vice versa. Unless it's an X-ray telescope, of course.

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
  4. BIG by fluffernutter · · Score: 1

    If mine was that big, I wouldn't be humble.

    --
    Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
    1. Re: BIG by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Fortuitous that you brought this "up".

      "Kavli" is the Greek word for "boner". So "MIT Kavli Institute" would put a smile on the face of many puerile Greek speakers. Myself included.

    2. Re: BIG by Kavli · · Score: 1

      Absolutely!

    3. Re: BIG by Kavli · · Score: 1

      Don't forget we've got balls, as well!

  5. Re:Please change the title by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 4, Informative

    The MOST telescope always stood in the shadows of - and deferred to - its flashier cousin Hubble. Hence its nickname, "the most humble telescope" and the entirely correct doesn't need editing no-sirree-bob Slashdot title.

    --
    #DeleteChrome
  6. Re:Please change the title by ve3oat · · Score: 0

    You are right -- I misread the title. It is late and I have been up since 06:00 and I have done what I often criticize other people for doing. I misread the title. Most in error, me. I regret and withdraw.

  7. Re:Please change the title by whoever57 · · Score: 4, Funny

    I congratulate you on being so humble.

    --
    The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!
  8. Re:Please change the title by rmdingler · · Score: 1

    +2 funny

    --
    Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.

    Ernest Hemingway

  9. Headline by sysrammer · · Score: 1

    I see what you did there.

    --
    His ignorance covered the whole earth like a blanket, and there was hardly a hole in it anywhere. - Mark Twain
  10. Not bad! by mschaffer · · Score: 2

    Not bad for an inexpensive microsatellite!

  11. Re:Wrong Headline... then MOST telescope by Kaenneth · · Score: 2

    "Humble" is a long running joking nickname for the MOST telescope: https://www.astrobio.net/retro...

  12. Too bad we don't have the shuttle anymore by Rick+Schumann · · Score: 1

    If we did they could bring it back to the Canadians.

    1. Re:Too bad we don't have the shuttle anymore by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Space Shuttle to go get it? They described it as 15 cm in diameter and weighing 54 kilos. They could probably pick it up with a space walk from a Russian capsule and buckle it in an open seat.

    2. Re: Too bad we don't have the shuttle anymore by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Lol, I bet I could bring it down witg a butterfly net jumping on a trampoline while high on crack.

  13. Last words? by Tough+Love · · Score: 2

    I mean, we know what Opportunity said, right? So come on, tell us Humble Telescope's last words. Maybe "I was a good telescope guys, please don't leave me to freeze in the dark".

    --
    When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
  14. Re:This isn't terribly surprising by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Canada is big on incompetence.

    Are you retarded? It was designed to last one year. It lasted 15 years. I'll say it in words you can understand:

    That's a very large success. Bigly.

  15. Re:Please change the title by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 1

    Actually, I am somewhat certain that the explanation as to why it’s referred to as “humble” wasn’t originally included in the summary...

    I was just making something up - something incorrect that still got modded informative! Never change, Slashdot.

    --
    #DeleteChrome
  16. Re:This isn't terribly surprising by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Ah, you've experience our healthcare?

  17. Re:Just received some sad news, guys by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The Hubble Space Telescope is still functioning.

    The headline says "Humble", which is intentionally deceptive clickbait.

  18. Re:Hubble Dumfux by optikos · · Score: 1

    Oh, be humble. They know not what they do.

  19. Re:Please change the title by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Me too! :)

    As a side note, at first, I though it was a mistake then I did a double-take and thought about our renowned Slashdot contributor and moderator who is so humble.

  20. Alright school children, everyone repeat... by magusxxx · · Score: 1

    The Humble Hubble Hobbled Happily Homeward

    --
    Care killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back.
    1. Re:Alright school children, everyone repeat... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The Humble Hubble Hobbled Happily Homeward

      Try saying that five times fast

  21. Re:So what the fuck is it? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Or you could *read* the story and work out that they used it's actual name.

  22. Re:Headline wrong? by Tablizer · · Score: 1

    So it's double-fucked

  23. Re:This isn't terribly surprising by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It was designed to last one year. It lasted 15 years.

    So they couldn't even get the planned obsolescence right?

  24. Re:Headline wrong? by Cipheron · · Score: 1

    Maybe you didn't read the whole summary. The headline is explained.

  25. Re:Hubble Dumfux by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Have they tried turning it off and on again?

  26. Re:WTH editors by Cipheron · · Score: 1

    Can you not even read the summary?

    Fuck these readers.

  27. Re:Dub Ucks.... by Cipheron · · Score: 1

    Bye bye anonymous, you'll be "missed".

  28. Re:Wrong Headline... then MOST telescope by SuricouRaven · · Score: 1

    True, but people not familiar with the MOST and its nickname could easily conclude the headline was a typo and we just lost the Hubble.

  29. Another coincidence by istartedi · · Score: 2

    The old Slashdot article says it was launched with a Russian vehicle called "Rockot", and people also thought that was a misspelling. So let's hear it for this telescope. In death as in life, it was so humble that it didn't even mind that Slashdot hated all the spelling and confusion that surrounded it.

    --
    For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
  30. Re: Hubble Dumfux by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Or maybe actually reading

  31. Re:So what the fuck is it? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Or you could *learn* the difference between its and it's.

  32. Re:Wrong Headline... then MOST telescope by x_t0ken_407 · · Score: 1

    Which still doesn't make the headline "completely wrong" and their incorrect conclusion can be assuaged by simply reading TFS. Source: I almost lost my shit when I read the title as "we just lost the HST" lol. Click-bait for sure, and it worked, heh.

  33. Kill the editors by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll

    Boil them in oil, flay them alive, impale them on red-hot iron rods. I don't care. Just kill them in the most horrific way possible and then parade their carcasses as grisly standards to the merriment of us all.

  34. Title? by argStyopa · · Score: 2

    Who else read this immediately assuming /. misspelled the title, only figuring it out halfway through the blurb that they were discussing MOST, not Hubble?

    --
    -Styopa
  35. Re:Wrong Headline... then MOST telescope by Strider- · · Score: 1

    It's pretty clear that the person who submitted the article is Canadian. The Canadian media referred to MOST as the "Humble Space Telescope" in their coverage of its launch and commissioning, thus making it the generally known nickname for the craft.

    Sorry for the confusion this caused, but it's not our fault that you didn't pay attention to our news media.

    --
    ...si hoc legere nimium eruditionis habes...
  36. Re:Hubble Dumfux by LifesABeach · · Score: 1

    my first thought was, "is it plugged in?"

  37. /. editors getting stupider by the day by SigmundFloyd · · Score: 1

    so here's a well-deserved comment for you:

    --
    Knowledge is power; knowledge shared is power lost.
  38. Re:Hubble Dumfux by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Did they try turning if off and back on?