Have you ever wondered how Aurora has so much information and photos of our galaxy? Well, here’s her secret — she and other astrophysicists — get a lot help from the Hubble Telescope, Earth’s eye in space.
Hi, this is Aurora. You know I love space; not just the planets, but the devices that we use to learn more about our universe. Today we’re going to talk about the Hubble space telescope., but first let me show you something. Do you see the picture on the left? Continue reading
The Hubble Space Telescope is a satellite built by NASA and European Space Agency (ESA). As a fellow inventor I admire the ingenuity that lead to it’s launch over 20 years ago. It truly is a special machine. (Almost as ingenious as my flying sofa.)
What makes it such a special telescope? For one thing, Hubble is the only telescope designed to be serviced by astronauts. It was last serviced in 2009 and is expected to finish it’s work in 2014.
So, what does the Hubble Space Telescope actually do? Hubble is a reflecting telescope and that also works in ultraviolet. It is powered by two solar panels, so keeping it fueled is never a problem. Its design to look a long way beyond our solar system — 350 times bigger than we can see from our tiny planet, Earth.
You know those great photos that Aurora uses in her Tour of the Galaxy? They were taken by the Hubble Telescope. The Hubble Telescope has gotten people interested in astronomy because it lets non-astronomers gaze at the wonders of the universe. You can trace the Hubble’s history by visiting NASA or Hubble Site. Continue reading
Bing really loves learning about the universe and its wonders. In many ways, he and Edwin Hubble, an American astronomer have a lot in common. Mr. Hubble discovered many things during his work as an astronomer such as spiral galaxies and an expanding universe.
When Bing started searching the heavens, he discovered ME! That just goes to show that you never know what you might find when you start searching this busy universe of ours.
Mr. Hubble was very interested in the masses of stars that he found while observing parts of the Andromeda nebula. His curiosity about these masses led him to the discovery that there are other galaxies outside of our Milky Way galaxy during the 1920s.
Cygnus as depicted in Urania's Mirror, a set of constellation cards published in London c.1825. Surrounding it are Lacerta, Vulpecula and Lyra.
Cygnus is a very large and magnificent constellation. One section of the Swan is called the Northern Cross. It’s brightest star is called Deneb. It is white and is located in the Swan’s tail. As you can see, the swan has its wings spread wide with his neck stretched out and its feet are formed by the fainter stars which are seen trailing behind it as the Swan flies along the Milky Way. Continue reading
Aurora’s still touring your galaxy, but she swung by Home Planet to drop off a really cool activity for you. Let’s see what she says:
Ever notice how bright the moon is during full moon, and how dim it is near new moon? This is a problem for astronomers when using a telescope. The moon is sometimes too bright to look at!
Astronomers use a rotating polarizing filter to adjust the amount of light that enters into their eye. You and I use polarizers everyday in sunglasses to cut the glare so we can see more detail.
In this activity we‘re going to twist light using polarizers to reveal colors we didn‘t see before. Continue reading