April 25, 1990: The Hubble Space Telescope goes live

On April 25, 1990, the $ 2.5 billion Hubble space telescope went into operation after being launched from the Discovery spacecraft and into orbit Earth's 600km. This is the first space telescope to be put on Earth orbit.

Hubble Space Telescope - (Photo: Reuters)

Hubble Space Telescope (English: Hubble Space Telescope, abbreviated HST) is a NASA telescope, weighing 12 tons, about the size of a bus. It was raised and operated on Earth's orbit at an altitude of about 600 km, about 220 km higher than the orbit height of the ISS international space station. At a travel speed of about 7500 m / s, Hubble can spin around the Earth in 97 minutes and 15 times a day. Dear Hubble, named after American astronomer Edwin Powell Hubble (1889-1953). This is a reflecting telescope equipped with a computer system and a mirror to collect light with a diameter of 240 cm.

Hubble is fully equipped with solar energy operating tools, to capture all the images of the universe with visible light, ultraviolet (UV) and near-infrared wavelength light. Of course, all devices on Hubble are designed to operate outside of the Earth's atmosphere and if Hubble is placed on the ground, many devices will no longer work.

This Hubble telescope project has been delayed by 7 years and exceeded the budget by about $ 2 billion. Although, after being launched into Earth orbit, astronomers discovered a major mirror error, reducing visibility and making Hubble unable to observe stars as far away as expected. It wasn't until 1993 that Hubble's main optical lens was successfully repaired. And so far Hubble has contributed a lot in human space research projects.

For 26 years in space, the Hubble Space Telescope helps people know about the presence of cosmic black holes , bringing about detailed images of many nebulae as well as collisions of galaxies.

Hubble also helps astronomers study weather changes on other planets, and detect elements such as sodium in the space surrounding the planets, according to Aljazeera.

Besides, the data that Hubble Space Telescope brings also helps scientists calculate the distance between objects in space.