The Hubble Space Telescope
A space telescope in low Earth orbit
Launched in April 1990, Hubble looks at the universe from above the atmosphere that blurs every telescope on the ground, in ultraviolet, visible and near-infrared light. Its 2.4-metre mirror has helped show the expansion of the universe speeding up, caught planets forming around other stars, and filled deep fields with galaxies billions of light years away.
It is the only telescope ever designed to be serviced in space: astronauts visited it five times between 1993 and 2009, the first time to correct the flaw in its mirror. Here it flies at its real position, computed from its latest orbital elements, and its main parts can be picked out one by one.
Key figures
- Launched
- April 24, 1990, aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery
- Length
- 13.2 m
- Diameter
- 4.2 m
- Primary mirror
- 2.4 m
- Observes in
- Ultraviolet, visible and near-infrared light
- One orbit of Earth
- about 95 minutes
- Orbit inclination
- 28.5°
- Servicing missions
- 5, from 1993 to 2009