Posted by 2courtneyb on September 9, 2009 at 5:01pm
Hubble is a telescope that was carried into orbit by the space shuttle in April 1990. It was actually made in the 1970’s but it wasn’t put into space until 1990 to look at the Earth’s atmosphere. In May 2009 NASA updated the Hubble telescope for it’s final mission. On Wednesday astronomers showed the pictures of what they took in space using Hubble. The new views that we can see with Hubble now are colorful pictures of a clashing galactic quintet, a densely packed star cluster, an eerie "pillar of creation" and the famed Butterfly Nebula.With the new makeover that Hubble has gotten it is supposed to last into the next decade. Hubble is now more powerful then it has ever been before. NASA put out their new findings with Hubble at a news conference in Washington D.C. Thousands of scientist and engineers helped to make Hubble as great as it is. Using Hubble’s new instruments you can see from ultraviolet to near-infrared of the light spectrum. The new cameras let it take better pictures then were possible before.At the news conference they showed four special new pictures:A colorful look at the Butterfly Nebula, also known as the Bug Nebula, a dying star surrounded by "wings" of glowing gas.
A close-up of the core of the Omega Centauri globular cluster, glittering with thousands of ancient stars.
A new look at Stephan's Quintet, a set of clashing galaxies.
A portrait of a dust pillar shrouding starbirth in the Carina Nebula.
The success of the space shuttle repair mission in May is obvious when we see these new pictures from Hubble.
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