Hubble Space Telescope – Page 2

New discoveries raise prospects for life on moons of Jupiter and Saturn

April 13, 2017 Stephen Clark

Scientists announced Thursday that measurements from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft detected hydrogen gas, a key energy source for microbial life, in a plume gushing from a vast liquid water ocean buried beneath the icy shell of Saturn’s moon Enceladus.

New Horizons to continue mission of discovery with Kuiper Belt encounter

January 22, 2017 Stephen Clark

Scientists planning the the next phase of NASA’s New Horizons mission, a robotic craft that completed the first exploration of Pluto in 2015, are going into the flyby of a frozen, faraway city-sized clump of rock on New Year’s Day 2019 armed with little knowledge of the target lurking around 4 billion miles from Earth.

STS-125: Launch of final Hubble servicing call

December 23, 2016 Justin Ray

Atlantis blasted off on May 11, 2009 for the final space shuttle mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope, a dramatic flight that prepared the iconic observatory for a new revolution of discovery

Possible water plumes spotted above Europa

September 26, 2016 William Harwood

The Hubble Space Telescope has again spotted what appear to be towering plumes of water vapor erupting from Jupiter’s moon Europa, hinting that future spacecraft may be able to sample the hidden sea, a possible abode of life, without having to drill through miles of rock-hard ice, researchers said Monday.

With Juno on Jupiter’s doorstep, Hubble eyes glowing Jovian auroras

June 30, 2016 Stephen Clark

Peering a half-billion miles across the solar system, the Hubble Space Telescope has caught a glimpse of brilliant auroras flashing over Jupiter’s north pole as NASA’s Juno orbiter speeds toward the gas giant for a close-up look.

Latest close-up of Mars comes from Hubble telescope

May 19, 2016 Stephen Clark

If you look at the night sky this month, chances are you can’t miss Mars rising in the east like an orange beacon each evening. Scientists recently aimed the Hubble Space Telescope at the red planet, producing a dazzling image of bright Martian ice caps, rust-colored landscapes and clouds hanging in its rarefied atmosphere.

‘Hubble Hugger’ and chief of NASA science division to leave agency

April 5, 2016 Stephen Clark

Veteran astronaut John Grunsfeld, who flew five space shuttle missions before becoming the head of NASA’s science mission directorate in 2012, announced Tuesday he will leave the space agency at the end of April.

Hubble shows Pluto’s moons don’t know which end is up

June 3, 2015 William Harwood

As NASA’s New Horizons probe closes in on Pluto, the Hubble Space telescope has been scouting its retinue of five known moons, discovering that at least two are tumbling chaotically in the complex gravity of the dwarf planet and its large moon, Charon, researchers said Wednesday.

OTD…April 25 and the Hubble deploy

April 25, 2015 Justin Ray

25 years ago this afternoon, Hubble was deployed from shuttle Discovery

Astronomers hopeful Hubble will make it to 30th anniversary

April 24, 2015 William Harwood

More than five years after a final shuttle servicing mission — and a quarter of a century since its launch in April 1990 — the Hubble Space Telescope is operating in near flawless fashion, and engineers are optimistic the observatory will remain on the forefront of astronomy at least through 2020.