Happy Birthday, Hubble telescope!

Science
Happy Birthday, Hubble telescope!
hubble_newold11.jpg

Hubble turns twenty today. The orbiting space telescopes — they grow up so fast. One day, it can barely focus its little lens, and seemingly, the next, it’s exploring dark energy (let’s call it its Goth phase). Happy birthday, Hubble. Spaceship Earth is so proud of you.

NASA writes on its Hubble page:

Space shuttle Discovery roared into orbit April 24, 1990, with a most precious cargo, NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. In the two decades since, teams of astronauts working from other shuttles repaired the orbiting eye on the universe and extended its abilities far beyond what was thought possible for longer than many thought realistic.

Hubble, named for groundbreaking astronomer Edwin Hubble, repaid the commitment with some of the most dazzling images the world has seen, along with fresh data that answered a wealth of questions and led to many new ones. The telescope’s observations allowed astronomers to set the age of the universe at about 13.7 billion years with a high degree of certainty.

20 Years of the Hubble

More:

How-To: Build a model Hubble Space Telescope

2 thoughts on “Happy Birthday, Hubble telescope!

  1. unigamer says:

    The detailed version is incredible and would be well worth the estimated 30 hours to make it!

    Following the links on the paper model page I came across a whole website dedicated to paper model spacecraft.
    http://jleslie48.com/index.html

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Gareth Branwyn is a freelance writer and the former Editorial Director of Maker Media. He is the author or editor of over a dozen books on technology, DIY, and geek culture. He is currently a contributor to Boing Boing, Wink Books, and Wink Fun. His free weekly-ish maker tips newsletter can be found at garstipsandtools.com.

View more articles by Gareth Branwyn

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