What imager does Hubble Space Telescope use?

[Dipper]

Probably a silly question, but is the information of the imager of HST published? The telescope parameters are available, it's a 2.4 m aperture and 57.6 m focal length f/24 focal ratio system. But what camera(s) are fitted with it? Would be interesting to simulate it in Stellarium.

[JulianO]

Probably a silly question, but is the information of the imager of HST published? The telescope parameters are available, it's a 2.4 m aperture and 57.6 m focal length f/24 focal ratio system. But what camera(s) are fitted with it? Would be interesting to simulate it in Stellarium.

Well there isn't one camera. There are about 5 I think, but the one used for most of the imaging (compared to spectroscopy) is Wifpic3. It has two CCDs of resolution 2048×4096 sensitive in a range of wavelengths and a few other features.

[Dipper]

Yes I've gathered that. But are more specs publicly available? To simulate it in Stellarium you need chip width/height and pixel width/height.

[Stu]

Sorry to just post a link, I'm away currently. Have you tried here? I'm sure you'll be able to find specs somewhere from here

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hubble/main/index.html

Stu

[JulianO]

There are some more detailed specs in here.

http://www.stsci.edu/hst/wfc3/documents/published/aas_jan2003_poster1.pdf

[Cath]

It's a real shame all that technology is going to be simply wasted in a few years (left their not being used). A good example of today's throw away society

[JulianO]

It's a real shame all that technology is going to be simply wasted in a few years (left their not being used). A good example of today's throw away society

Well it is and it isn't. Without the space shuttle to refurbish it, thinks start to break. I believe before the last refurbishment, a number of the gyros used for alignment had stopped working so it could only be pointed in certain directions. CCD chips degrade as they are exposed to cosmic rays, with more and more defects becoming evident. It will slowly decay in its orbit without the space shuttle boosting it, and also technology marches on. The best ground telescopes are catching up with Hubble and so soon it will be overtaken. So basically without proper maintenance, and upgrades, it will become less useful.

[Auntystatic]

It's a real shame all that technology is going to be simply wasted in a few years (left their not being used). A good example of today's throw away society

It won't be left there, they plan to bring it back, in a big fire ball then a swim in the pacific

[Dipper]

Why can't such a thing be left orbiting the Earth? As a monument to achievement.

[JulianO]

Why can't such a thing be left orbiting the Earth? As a monument to achievement.

Celestial mechanics! Unless it is regularly boosted into a higher orbit by rockets, it gets slowed down by the (very small) atmospheric friction. Unless something goes and gives it a push it will reenter the atmosphere sometime after 2019.

There was a plan to bring it back to earth in a shuttle, but obviously that option is now gone, and it would be a pretty expensive trip to get a museum exhibit.

[Dipper]

Figures. The other day I read that ISS is the most expensive human-made object in the history of mankind. I imagine Hubble isn't quite on that level as ISS but still it must have cost a gazillion and if it comes back to Earth in a puff of smoke...

[Stu]

Probably true, but apparently there are something like 11 (or 7, can't remember exactly) other similar spec satellites around used by the american military, plus a couple of spares still unlaunched. The money is always there if they want to find it

Stu

[JulianO]

Well - to but it in perspective...

Hubble cost $2.5 billion

ISS $150 billion

JWST - $8.6 billion (proposed costs - successor to Hubble)

E-ELT 1 billion euro (proposed biggest ground based telescope) ($1.298 billion)

LHC $9 billion (the cern atom smasher)

Gulf war $61 billion

Bailing out banks $700 billion to $3.1 trillion

[Stu]

'nuff said :-(

Stu

[Auntystatic]

And they can't afford £170,000 to keep the UKIRT and the James Clerk Maxwell telescopes running on mauna kea, when the Olympics cost up towards £24bn in fact its the same cost as that flaming statue/art work/junk pile that nobody likes or wanted that was commissioned for the games.