Whoops - faulty code nearly kills the HST

[dannybgoode]

On the plus side the resulting 'safe mode' operation did highlight a few other faults.  Can't believe it's 30 years old either.  Still one of the great space missions IMO along with the Voyager missions, Apollo and New Horizons.

https://www.theregister.com/2021/03/12/hubble_bork/

[theropod]

The article above implies the Webb will replace the Hubble. Isn’t the Webb a non visual wavelength telescope?

[dannybgoode]

15 minutes ago, theropod said:

The article above implies the Webb will replace the Hubble. Isn’t the Webb a non visual wavelength telescope?

Given that the HST will die in the near-ish future the JWS will be it's replacement visual or otherwise I think.  I am not sure they will launch another purely visual space telescope these days.

[johninderby]

Quote from NASA

The James Webb Space Telescope (sometimes called JWST or Webb) is an orbiting infrared observatory that will complement and extend the discoveries of the Hubble Space Telescope, with longer wavelength coverage and greatly improved sensitivity. The longer wavelengths enable Webb to look much closer to the beginning of time and to hunt for the unobserved formation of the first galaxies, as well as to look inside dust clouds where stars and planetary systems are forming today.

Webb will see about 600 nm to 28 microns. (Visible light ranges about 700 - 400 nm; Webb will be able to see in the red/orange part of the visible light spectrum.)

Edited March 15, 2021 by johninderby

[theropod]

6 minutes ago, dannybgoode said:

Given that the HST will die in the near-ish future the JWS will be it's replacement visual or otherwise I think.  I am not sure they will launch another purely visual space telescope these days.

From what I read the Webb will be an IR telescope, and that will in no way replace the part of the EM spectrum Hubble can gather.

[dannybgoode]

1 minute ago, theropod said:

From what I read the Webb will be an IR telescope, and that will in no way replace the part of the EM spectrum Hubble can gather.

Yes I get that but it is still Hubble's replacement, if not like for like.  Hubble has 5 years at best left I think and I doubt it will be replaced with another visual scope...

[EntropyTango]

Well the Hubble maybe dying but the news isn't all bad

 

Edited March 15, 2021 by EntropyTango

[Sunshine]

52 minutes ago, EntropyTango said:

Well the Hubble maybe dying but the news isn't all bad

 

I have been closely following the development of the LSST telescope for a few years now, it is amazing.  Recently the camera sensor has been assembled making it the largest camera ever made.

Edited March 15, 2021 by Sunshine

[DaveS]

2 hours ago, dannybgoode said:

Yes I get that but it is still Hubble's replacement, if not like for like.  Hubble has 5 years at best left I think and I doubt it will be replaced with another visual scope...

Hubble isn't just a "visual" telescope since it's capabilities stretch into the near UV. Besides which there are plenty of useful emission lines in the "visible" part of the spectrum.

[theropod]

On 15/03/2021 at 08:38, DaveS said:

Hubble isn't just a "visual" telescope since it's capabilities stretch into the near UV. Besides which there are plenty of useful emission lines in the "visible" part of the spectrum.

Exactly, and thank you! That visible part of the spectrum is what concerns me. I see no reason to let Hubble just burn up, mostly, on reentry. Especially so considering the tech available now as opposed to the date of Hubble’s first use (not on station, but actual use). We the people of the USA have a good deal invested, and it makes no sense at all to just throw it away, when the Hubble could be saved. I’d assume a very small portion of the costs above and beyond my current taxes on social security.

 

[Charles Kirk]

Surely it is not a visual scope at all, but an imaging scope.

[Stu]

5 hours ago, Charles Kirk said:

Surely it is not a visual scope at all, but an imaging scope.

Indeed. I find the eyepiece placement very inconvenient and hard to reach. Not even my Catsperch chair gets me up there.... 😉

....more seriously, I think the previous posters were meaning capturing light in frequencies of light which are visible to us, rather than IR or UV for example.

[maw lod qan]

I cant really join the argument between visual and imaging about the differences between the HST and what ever replaces it.

With what it has given us I think of it along the lines of an old friend. Though we know their final day will come, we hope it never does!