Hubble: star birth

[Dr Mordrid]

In commemoration of NASA's Hubble Space Telescope completing its 100,000th
orbit in its 18th year of exploration and discovery, scientists at the Space Telescope
Science Institute in Baltimore, Md., have aimed Hubble to take a snapshot of a dazzling
region of celestial birth and renewal. Hubble peered into a small portion of the nebula
near the star cluster NGC 2074 (upper, left).

The region is a firestorm of raw stellar creation, perhaps triggered by a nearby supernova
explosion. It lies about 170,000 light-years away near the Tarantula nebula, one of the
most active star-forming regions in our Local Group of galaxies. This representative
color image was taken on August 10, 2008, with Hubble's Wide Field Planetary Camera 2.
Red shows emission from sulfur atoms, green from glowing hydrogen, and blue from
glowing oxygen.

[Evildead666]

And the big blacked out bit is the 'secret military base' ?

great pic Dr.

[Dr Mordrid]

The majority of the photos you see from the Hubble Space Telescope, like this one, were taken with the Wide-Field and Planetary Camera 2, which is composed of four independent CCD chips laid out in an array. Three are wide field cameras and one is the planetary camera.

The Wide Field cameras have a 0.1 arcsecond pixel scale and are intended for panoramic observations of faint sources at the cost of angular resolution. The Planetary Camera has a 0.043 arcsecond pixel scale and is intended for high-resolution observations.

Below is a pic showing WFPC2's layout;

[Evildead666]

So, "Plane'ary Camera, Camera 1" is slang for " That Fortress we don't have in Space"
(juss takin the P.)

So, what are the resolutions of the Wide field vs the Planetary Camera ?
( I don't really get too much by arcsecond, unless its .1 second of an image in motion, and in that case, the whole image is in fact a sequence of events, even if very close together...)

[Evildead666]

Thats also a huge amount of Hydrogen and Oxygen...

What can sulfur be used for if not weapons ?

[Dr Mordrid]

Thats also a huge amount of Hydrogen and Oxygen...

What can sulfur be used for if not weapons ?

Sulfur, like all other natural elements, are spit out by supernovae. In 13 billion years that amounts to a lot of sulfur.

Each CCD on the Hubble is an 800X800 astronomic unit made by Texas Instruments which have very low thermal noise characteristics.

BTW: STS-125 - the next, and last, Hubble repair mission is scheduled to lift off October 8th, 2008.

Atlantis will carry two new instruments to the HST; in addition to a replacement Fine Guidance Sensor, 6 new gyroscopes and enough batteries to last through 2013. The crew will also install a new thermal blanket to provide improved insulation and a "Soft-Capture mechanism", which is to aid in the de-orbiting of Hubble by an unmanned spacecraft at the end of its life.

I think that when Hubble is brought down there should be the worlds biggest party given to celebrate its contribution to mankind. I envy those in OZ as they'll get the best look as it comes down over the Pacific.

It's major replacement, the James Webb Space Telescope, is due to be launched in 2013 by an Ariane 5 booster from French Guiana. JWST will not be in low Earth orbit like Hubble but will instead orbit L2, the second Lagrangian point. L2 is a point of gravitational equilibrium in space directly opposite the sun from Earth's point of view.

[Jammrock]

Imagine what the repair bill on that sucker will be when it needs to fixed!

[Dr Mordrid]

About the same, maybe a bit less, than the Hubble.

NASA's Orion is not just intended for the ISS but also for lunar and asteroid missions, so its deep space capable. Orion is scheduled to be operational around 2015, 2 years after the JWST arrives.

Actually, Orion could be sent to L2 using less fuel than a lunar mission because or the orbital mechanics. This means it could take along repair cargo separately launched with a smaller rocket (Atlas etc.) and docked up with in low Earth orbit.

It's also very possible that SpaceX's Dragon could make the trip to L2, and it's set to fly its test missions in 2009 from the Kennedy Space Center.

[Nowhere]

Got me wondering...Herschel, which is basically mini-JWST, launches nex year, with 2 year mission (limited by the amount of liquid helium onboard).

WOuld be nice if we could re-supply it...

[Dr Mordrid]

IF it were designed to dock and transfer the helium that could be done with a robotic mission, similar to how they're going to bring down the ISS. The ISS termination mission will just attach a small thruster to slow it down enough to de-orbit.

[Nowhere]

Probably not worth it then - afaik it isn't designed like that/it's almost ready for launch. And soon after it ends its mission, ESA will participate in another, bigger infrared telescope mission anyway...

At least we'll soon have a glimpse of what JWST will bring

[Evildead666]

Thats also a huge amount of Hydrogen and Oxygen...

What can sulfur be used for if not weapons ?

I was thinking more in terms of collecting it.

Obviously Hydrogen and Oxygen would be great in such large quantites basically just floating around.

Just wondering what the sulfur could be used for...Or just not bother collecting it...