Gilbert, AZ, April 24, 2020 at 16:34
Astronomy is the study of celestial objects in space. Today, 30 years ago, on April 24th the Hubble telescope was launched into space, which helped astronomers see space more easily. It is named after astronomer, Edwin Hubble. It is 43.5 feet long, about the size of a large school bus and weighs 27,000 pounds. It is at a low earth orbit with an altitude of 295 nautical miles. It travels at 17,000 mph and takes about 95 minutes to orbit the Earth. It receives its power from the sun with two 25-foot solar panels. These panels generate about 5,500 watts, although the telescope only uses an average of 2,100 watts. It has 6 nickel-hydrogen batteries to help store the extra power, which it uses when the earth is blocking the sun.
(beep boop beep). That’s right R2 we flew right by this on our way to Earth. This is an image taken by the Hubble telescope. Because of it being in space, it has no atmospheric conditions, such as clouds to obstruct its view.
Did you know, that in order for the Hubble telescope to take pictures of faint objects in space it must be very accurate? The telescope has the pointing accuracy of .007 arcseconds, which is the equivalent of being able to shine a laser beam onto a dime about 200 miles away.
Lego Project 