Nearly 25 years ago, scientists at NASA launched the Hubble telescope into space. April 24, 2015 will be the 25th anniversary of the historic Hubble telescope, which was the first telescope ever to remain in orbit in space. Yesterday, on November 13, Tony Darnell and Scott Lewis hosted a live Google hangout session with three engineers and scientists who work at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, where the Hubble telescope's ground controls are based, to learn a bit about how the Hubble telescope operates. These scientists work with the Hubble telescope every day, and have some amazing insights into the mechanics of the telescope.
Operating a space telescope from Earth is no doubt a complex task, and is likely a practice in patience. One problem that the Hubble telescope engineers face is how to block out stray light, keeping the telescope focused. The engineers have a mirror that they can control remotely from the ground at the Goddard Space Flight Center, so if a scientist who is using the telescope for a research project says that the telescope is not properly focused, they can adjust the mirror until it's in focus again.
Moving the telescope can be tedious. Hubble moves very slowly, at about the speed of the minute hand on a clock, said Mike Wenz, the lead of the Hubble telescope's Optical Assembly.
"For us to do a 90 degree turn, it takes us about 15 minutes," Wenz said.
Morgan Van Arsdall, who is on the systems management team, said that every week the Hubble team comes up with a schedule for the telescope's location, based on what they want it to look at. They then load that information onto the computers. One of the computers they are working on is an old Intel 486, a model which IBM stopped making in 2007.
"Is there an AOL disc in there?" one of the hosts, Scott Lewis, asked, jokingly.
Another interesting thing the scientists revealed is that, on a day-to-day basis, no one is monitoring the telescope. The telescope used to be fully staffed by a team of five, but a few years ago NASA switched to an automated system that monitors the telemetry and other set standards. If anything goes wrong, the system will send a text message to one of the people on the Hubble team, and they'll come in.
The Hubble Space Telescope was sent into low Earth orbit in 1990 and can visualize near ultraviolet, visible, and near infrared spectra. The telescope has been the source of countless astronomical observations and discoveries.
