Since its launch in 1990, the 12-ton bus-sized Hubble Telescope has made more than one million observations and looked at over 38,000 celestial objects. The Hubble archives are filled with more than half a million images. The amount of astronomical data collected is equivalent to about 50 million books, or five times the printed collection of the U.S. Library of Congress.
In 1983, NASA named the telescope after the early-20th-century American astronomer Edwin P. Hubble (1889-1953), who is credited with the 1920s discovery that galaxies are huge, remote systems of billions of stars. The most powerful space camera ever built was installed on Hubble in 2009, along with many other fixes and Hubble was now performing at a higher level than ever before.
When we look at stars we look at history. The light that arrive at our location from the farthest objects in the universe is light that left those objects billions of years ago, so we see them as they appeared long ago. The most distant galaxies look strange, smaller, irregular, lacking clearly defined shapes. No telescope before Hubble had the resolution to see these distant galaxies.
Astronomers focused Hubble on what appeared to be a nearly empty patch of sky for 10 days. The results contained 10,000 galaxies at various stages of evolution and covers a patch of sky smaller than the size of a pinhead held at arm's length. To photograph the entire sky in this detail would require 13 million Hubble images with comparable exposure. The stunning image was called the Hubble Deep Field.
The composition of the cosmos finally came into focus in the late 1990s and early into the first decade of the 21st century. The part of the universe with which we are most familiar i.e. planets, moons, stars, nebulas and galaxies accounts for less than 1 percent of the universe's total contents. Non-luminous matter (mostly hydrogen dispersed throughout space) is about 3 percent, while the rest is the largely mysterious dark matter and the completely mysterious dark energy.
Question 1: How many observations has the Hubble Telescope made since its launch in 1990, and what is the significance of this number?
Answer: The Hubble Telescope has made more than one million observations since its launch in 1990. This number signifies the extensive data collection and study conducted by the telescope, contributing to our understanding of the cosmos.
Question 2: What is the volume of astronomical data collected by the Hubble Telescope, and how does it compare to the U.S. Library of Congress's printed collection?
Answer: The amount of astronomical data collected by the Hubble Telescope is equivalent to about 50 million books, which is five times the printed collection of the U.S. Library of Congress. This comparison highlights the vastness of the data amassed by the telescope.
Question 3: Who was the Hubble Telescope named after, and what is his contribution to astronomy?
Answer: The Hubble Telescope was named after the early-20th-century American astronomer Edwin P. Hubble (1889-1953). He is credited with the discovery in the 1920s that galaxies are huge, remote systems of billions of stars, significantly advancing our understanding of the universe.
Question 4: What groundbreaking discovery did astronomers make using the Hubble Telescope in the late 1990s and early 2000s?
Answer: Astronomers used the Hubble Telescope to focus on a seemingly empty patch of sky for 10 days, resulting in the discovery of 10,000 galaxies at various stages of evolution. This groundbreaking observation, known as the Hubble Deep Field, revealed the vastness and complexity of the universe.
Question 5: What percentage of the universe's total contents do planets, moons, stars, nebulas, and galaxies account for, according to the passage?
Answer: The part of the universe with which we are most familiar, including planets, moons, stars, nebulas, and galaxies, accounts for less than 1 percent of the universe's total contents.
Question 6: What are the two major components of the universe mentioned in the passage, and what percentage of the universe do they represent?
Answer: The two major components of the universe mentioned are dark matter and dark energy. Dark matter represents a largely mysterious component, while dark energy is described as completely mysterious. Together, they represent the vast majority of the universe, with luminous matter accounting for less than 4 percent.
