In 1990, the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) was launched into Earth orbit, since then remaining in operation. With the celebration of its 25th anniversary, we will remember in this post the most amazing things that Hubble has discovered, and how important are these for science.
Besides offering beautiful images of space, the HST gives us a better perception of the universe´s origin. According to Wilford, scientific writer from The New York Times, “the data show convincingly that the universe may be much younger than scientists calculated. Perhaps no more than eight billion years”.
Also, the Hubble provided evidence that can demonstrate the existence of black holes. In 1994, NASA announced they had discovered a cloud of gas in a disc form that rotates at high speed.
In the same year, the Hubble sent images of the Shoemaker-Levy 9 comet when it was going to Jupiter, and finally disintegrated.
Other discoveries made by the Hubble, like the proto-planetary discs in the Orion Nebula, are an evidence of the presence of extra solar planets around other stars.
The Hubble was also used to research the Solar System. With these studies, it has discovered new dwarf planets, like Pluto, Eris and Ceres.
In conclusion, the HST was and is a very important instrument to research what is outside the universe. It also has a substantial impact in astronomy, with over 9,000 papers based on Hubble data published in magazines, journals, newspapers, etc. Even more contributions have appeared in academic conferences.
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