“When the Hubble Space Telescope was launched from the Space Shuttle Discovery in 1990, NASA called it the greatest advance in astronomy since Galileo. Instead, within days it became a laughing stock. Hubble had an eight foot diameter mirror, but a chip of paint on a measuring rod caused the mirror to be 4 millionths of an inch too flat, leaving the telescope with blurry vision. Hubble needed glasses.
Three years later, the crew of the Space Shuttle Endeavour rode to the rescue. Space walking astronauts installed tiny mirrors to correct Hubble’s vision. The universe snapped into focus.”
…and now after 25 years, Hubble has continued to live up to its original promise, capturing unparalleled images of the gasses, dust, light, and “primordial darkness” that help us better define and explore our own existence. From The New York Times, an episode in a series of videos titled Out There, this is The Hubble Space Telescope Reflects the Cosmos.
Pair the big picture video above with more detailed stories about Hubble’s continued tech upgrades and its powerful “deep-field” imaging capabilities: From NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope channel, this is Hubble 25th Anniversary Series – The Incredible Time Machine.
Watch these next: The Hubble Ultra Deep Field in 3D and We are dead stars.
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