Prepared by: Mustafa Al-Zoubi
The US space agency “NASA” announced that the “veteran” Hubble Space Telescope has completed one billion seconds of work by the beginning of the new year.
The scientists said: Since Hubble began working, for more than 3 decades, it has provided us with groundbreaking scientific discoveries and iconic images of space. Hubble’s billion seconds included 5 missions to serve astronauts to replace and repair telescope components, and more than 1.5 million scientific observations and statistics. The old Hubble telescopes and the new Webb is like asking whether you will love your second child as much as your first.”
She added: “Hubble will remain one of the most important telescopes because of its amazing images of our universe.”
In the following lines, 5 major comparisons between “Hubble” and “Web”:
1- Telescope name:
Astronomer Edwin Hubble asserted a century ago that countless galaxies exist outside our Milky Way and that the universe is constantly expanding. While James Webb led NASA from 1961 to 1968; He headed the Mercury and Gemini projects, and the first phase of the Apollo moon landing program.
2- Discovering stars and galaxies:
Hubble observed stars and planets that reached 13.4 billion light-years away, and revealed a clustered chain of a galaxy that is currently the oldest and most distant object ever observed. Astronomers are eager to bridge the 300-million-year gap with Webb.
3- Infrared:
Hubble detects space with little ultraviolet and infrared radiation, while Webb has infrared vision, which allows it to penetrate cosmic dust clouds.
4- Measurement:
To distinguish the first faint stars in the universe, Webb requires a larger mirror; So the mirror stretches more than 21 feet (6.5 meters), but is lighter than the 8-foot (2.4 meters) Hubble mirror.
5- Location:
The Hubble telescope orbits 330 miles (530 kilometers) above sea level. Whereas, Webb will reach a distance of one million miles (1.6 million kilometers) at the so-called “second Lagrange point”, the place where the Earth’s gravitational forces and the sun balance.
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