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Atlantis' and crew return to Hubble to upgrade the telescope.
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Hubble Servicing Mission
Hubble Science
Hubble Enters 100,000th Orbit
This nebula, imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope on August 10, is about 170,000 light-years away. Credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)
> Larger image NASA's Hubble Space Telescope completed its 100,000th orbit of Earth on the morning of August 11. In commemoration of this event in its 18th year of exploration and discovery, scientists at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Md., aimed Hubble at a dazzling region of celestial birth and renewal. Hubble peered into a small portion of this nebula near the star cluster NGC 2074.
The region is a firestorm of raw stellar creation, perhaps triggered by a nearby supernova explosion. It lies about 170,000 light-years away near the Tarantula nebula, one of the most active star-forming regions in our Local Group of galaxies. This representative color image was taken on August 10, 2008, with Hubble's Wide Field Planetary Camera 2. Red shows emission from sulfur atoms, green from glowing hydrogen, and blue from glowing oxygen.
> Read more
This nebula, imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope on August 10, is about 170,000 light-years away. Credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)> Larger image NASA's Hubble Space Telescope completed its 100,000th orbit of Earth on the morning of August 11. In commemoration of this event in its 18th year of exploration and discovery, scientists at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Md., aimed Hubble at a dazzling region of celestial birth and renewal. Hubble peered into a small portion of this nebula near the star cluster NGC 2074.
The region is a firestorm of raw stellar creation, perhaps triggered by a nearby supernova explosion. It lies about 170,000 light-years away near the Tarantula nebula, one of the most active star-forming regions in our Local Group of galaxies. This representative color image was taken on August 10, 2008, with Hubble's Wide Field Planetary Camera 2. Red shows emission from sulfur atoms, green from glowing hydrogen, and blue from glowing oxygen.
> Read more
Mission News
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NASA Changes 2008 Shuttle Target Launch Dates, Schedules TCDT
NASA has adjusted the target launch date for the last mission to Hubble this fall.
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Improving Hubble’s Space Armor
When astronauts return to Hubble for Servicing Mission 4 this fall, they will be revamping and reenergizing the telescope for the final leg of its journey. One of the tasks they aim to complete is the installation of New Outer Blanket Layers, or NOBLs.
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Hubble Equipment Being Readied for Flight at Kennedy Space Center
Flight hardware and science instruments are readied for the last mission to Hubble.
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Hubble Unveils Colorful Star Nursery on 100,000th Orbit
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope captured this image of a nebula near star cluster NGC 2074 on Aug. 10, 2008, the day before the observatory completed its 100,00th orbit of Earth.
Servicing Mission Feature Series
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Improving Hubble’s Space Armor
When astronauts return to Hubble for Servicing Mission 4 this fall, they will be revamping and reenergizing the telescope for the final leg of its journey. One of the tasks they aim to complete is the installation of New Outer Blanket Layers, or NOBLs.
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Hubble Instruments Slated for On-Orbit 'Surgery'
When astronauts visit the Hubble Space Telescope in October 2008 for its final servicing mission, they will be facing a task that has no precedence – performing on-orbit 'surgery' on two ailing science instruments that reside inside the telescope.
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Engineers Design a New Composite Carrier for Hubble Servicing Mission
Hubble engineers at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. are ushering in a new era in spaceflight with successful design of the first of its kind composite equipment carrier.
World Book at NASA
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Edwin P. Hubble
The work of American astronomer Edwin Powell Hubble revolutionized our understanding of the size and structure of the universe.
Hubble Accomplishments
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Age of the Universe →
Thanks in part to the Hubble Space Telescope, we know the universe is 13.7 billion years old.
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At Galaxies' Cores →
Nearly all galaxies may harbor supermassive black holes.
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How Planets Form
The Hubble Space Telescope has helped scientists determine the process of how planets are born.
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Extrasolar Organic Matter
The Hubble Space Telescope detected the first organic molecule discovered on a planet outside our solar system.
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Dark Energy →
The Hubble Space Telescope detected a distant supernova that suggests the universe only recently began speeding up.
Hubble HD Video
Related Multimedia
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Return to Hubble
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Hubble images of planets, stars, galaxies and more.
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Tonight's Sky →
Your guide to constellations, planets, events and more.
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Behind the Pictures →
Do Hubble pictures look like the objects would if we saw them ourselves?
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Learn more about astronomy in our weekly Hubble Podcasts!
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