It was the year 1990, and the calendar marked date of the April 24when, aboard the discovery space ferry (STS-31), it was carried out The launch of the Hubble Space Telescopein a context in which astronomers faced a constant obstacle when observing the cosmos: the atmosphere of the earth.
This changed forever once it was launched: deployed in land orbit the next day, it began to 35 years of exploration in which discoveries of great scientific impact have emerged, such as The great storm (or “white spot”) in Saturnthe evidence of A supermassive black hole in the center of the Giant Galaxia M87 or the collection of images of the sand clock nebula (MYCN18).
According to NASA, Hubble was designed with a useful life of 15 years. However, five maintenance missions have not only allowed extend your presence in orbit to this daybut also to increase their abilities simultaneously to the technological advances that occurred on land. This, added to the fact that the NASA’s Operational Flight Operations Center Operate uninterruptedly 365 days a yearhas made Hubble become A vital tool to know the universe.
In any case, the telescope will not be eternal: it is expected that its activity ceases in 2036 and that its functions are happened by his younger brother, but more powerful in terms of scope and capacitythe James Webb space telescope (JWST), which entered orbit on December 25, 2021.
The Hubble, meanwhile, will leave an indelible legacy in the field of astronomical exploration, as it has done so far in its more than three decades of operation. Are images They show their great contributions over the years.
