MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109. TELEPHONE (818) 354-5011
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov
Contact: Jane Platt
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 8, 1998
BREATHTAKING HUBBLE PICTURES FOCUS OF JPL EVENING LECTURES
Spectacular images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope will be featured
in two free public lectures on Thursday, June 18 at 7 p.m. in JPL's von
Karman Auditorium, and on Friday, June 19 at 7 p.m. in The Forum at
Pasadena City College. Seating is limited and will be on a first-come,
first-served basis.
The lecture, entitled "Hubble Space Telescope: Bringing the Universe
into Focus," will include highlights of the past four years of research
with the first large optical space telescope. Lecturer Dr. John Trauger, a
senior research scientist with JPL's Division of Earth and Space Science,
will present colorful and awe-inspiring pictures providing new insights
into the workings of our solar system, the life cycle of nebulae and stars
in our Milky Way galaxy, and the evolution of galaxies over cosmic time.
Trauger has been the principal investigator for the Hubble Space
Telescope's Wide Field and Planetary Camera-2 since the project's inception
in 1985. The camera was originally conceived as a wide-field photometric
camera to include technology advancements and eventually replace the
original camera first launched with the telescope in 1990.
In June 1990, after analyzing the first Hubble images, Trauger first
proposed to NASA a solution for Hubble's spherical aberration. His
solution, which ultimately restored full imaging potential to the space
telescope, involved reconfiguring small mirrors within the Wide Field and
Planetary Camera-2. Trauger's work earned him NASA's Outstanding
Leadership Medal in 1994. In 1997, the American Astronomical Society's
Division of Planetary Science presented Trauger with its Masursky Award for
meritorious service to planetary science. Trauger is active in the ongoing
development of optical and interferometric instrumentation for astronomy.
This lecture is part of the von Karman Lecture Series sponsored monthly
by the JPL Media Relations Office. A web site on the lecture series is located at http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/lecture. For directions and other
information, call the Media Relations Office at (818) 354-5011.
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