Background

This section includes the description, history, and purpose of the Hubble Space Telescope; and some background on the planets we considered during this project

Description of the Hubble

Deployed on April 25, 1990, the Hubble Telescope is a giant observatory aboard a spacecraft. It can make observations of the universe using visible, near-ultraviolet and near-infrared light spectra above the filtering effect of earth's atmosphere. Because of its ability to capture faint light in fine detail and the precision of its observations the Hubble Space Telescope is rapidly expanding astronomers understanding of the cosmos.

The History of the Hubble Telescope

How the Hubble Came to Be

Long before mankind had the ability to go into space, astronomers dreamed of placing a telescope above Earth's obscuring atmosphere. An observatory in space was proposed in 1923 by the German scientist Hermann Oberth, whose work inspired rocket pioneer Dr. Wernher von Braun's interest in space travel. Scientific instruments installed on early rockets, balloons, and satellites in the late 1940s through the early 1960s produced enough exciting scientific revelations to hint at how much remained to be discovered

Science Objectives

The Hubble Telescope was designed to:

Investigate celestial bodies by studying their composition, physical characteristics, and dynamics.
Observe the formation of stars and galaxies, and study their formation and evolution.
Study the history and evolution of the universe.
Provide a long-term space-based research facility for optical astronomy.

History of the Telescope

About Edwin Hubble four dots

About the Planets

Planets to be Observed

The Live from the Hubble Space Telescope observations are targeted for March 1996 when 4 planets - Jupiter, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto - will be in a position for observation by the telescope. The planets Neptune and Pluto were selected (via the Great Planet Debate) as targets for observations by students.

Neptune: 2 orbits
Pluto: 1 orbit
Jupiter: 1 orbit courtesy of Planet Advocate Reta Beebe
Uranus: Considered but not selected

Example of Planet Information Essays:

About Neptune
by Heidi Hammel
What's interesting about my planet? What I like best about the planet Neptune is that every time you look at it, it's different, so Neptune can be >your< planet. The pictures that would be taken of Neptune would be yours. No one else would have seen the clouds that you see and they'll never be seen again probably. And so that means that the pictures of Neptune you take would be absolutely unique four dots

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This page was created by Tobin Snell and Josh Parker, seniors at Palo Alto High School in California.