Hubble’s Primary Camera Shuts Down
The primary camera on the Hubble Space Telescope has shut down and is likely to be only marginally restored, NASA said Monday, a collapse one astronomer called “a great loss.”
While other scientific work can still be done by the aging observatory, the unit that failed, the Advanced Camera for Surveys, is the one most scientists depend upon. NASA scientists say they expect to be able to restore just one-third of its observation ability, probably by mid-February.
“We’re not optimistic at all” about returning it to full function, said Dave Leckrone, a senior scientist on the Hubble at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt.
Astronomer Mario Livio at the Space Telescope Science Institute, which coordinates use of the Hubble by the scientific community, said the Hubble’s primary camera was a “serious workhorse,” but astronomers can fall back on Hubble’s other instruments.
“So, clearly the observations will continue, science will continue, but it’s a great loss, no doubt. It’s a great loss because this was a fantastic camera that just produced incredible science,” Livio said.
I hope the planned 2008 Shuttle service mission still goes ahead, and that this doesn’t serve as an excuse to just kill Hubble off.
Is there any new space telescope project to replace the Hubble or this was a one time thing?
#2 I could be wrong but I believe there is another in the wings but it isn’t a visual image scope. Which will be great for science but it will not grab the imagination of the general public like the images above.
Let’s face it. Knowing things like the photo on the left are out there really makes you wonder what else is out there.
#2, there will be the James Webb telescope (http://www.jwst.nasa.gov/), however it will only do imaging in the infrared, not optical, range, so the pictures will have less immediate appeal than those from the Hubble. It will also be impossible to service it, since it will be farther from the Earth than the Moon. The Hubble is/was a great instrument, and I surely hope NASA keeps investing on it, even after the planned 2008 service mission. The science coming from it seems worthwhile, even if there are a few ground based telescopes who can now start to achieve resolutions close to that of the Hubble.
I am truly saddened. This was a wonderful showcase for NASA.
Oh well, at any rate, here’s a link to the story from NASA : http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2007/jan/HQ_0715_Hubble_ACS.html
Reminds me of an old political cartoon that shows futuristic space ships zooming around earth orbit, bearing logos of the Soviet, European, and Japanese space agencies. Down below, a pathetic-looking kite with a camera on top, poking up out of the atmosphere, with the NASA logo on it. Looks like where we’re headed now.
The NASA press release stated the ACS (the camera that broke down) was added during a prior shuttle mission. Is it a power supply issue or can they simply replace the ACS again… with a better one?
From:
http://hubblesite.org/reference_desk/faq/answer.php.id=77&cat=topten
Can Hubble see the Apollo landing sites on the Moon?
No, Hubble cannot take photos of the Apollo landing sites.
An object on the Moon 4 meters (4.37 yards) across, viewed from HST, would be about 0.002 arcsec in size. The highest resolution instrument currently on HST is the Advanced Camera for Surveys at 0.03 arcsec. So anything we left on the Moon cannot be resolved in any HST image. It would just appear as a dot.