Announcements

10 March 2009: NASA/ESA's Hubble Space Telescope partnered with ESO's VLT to obtain exceptional 3D views of distant galaxies by probing the motions of gas in tiny objects, seen when the Universe was half its current age. By looking at this unique "history book" of our Universe, at an epoch when the Sun and the Earth did not yet exist, scientists hope to solve the puzzle of how galaxies formed in the remote past. For decades, distant galaxies that emitted their light six billion years ago were no more than small specks of light on the sky. With the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope in the early 1990s, astronomers were able to scrutinise the structure of distant galaxies in some detail for the first time. Under the superb skies of Paranal, the VLT's FLAMES/GIRAFFE spectrograph (eso0219) — which obtains simultaneous spectra from small areas of extended objects — can now also resolve …

4 March 2009: "Eyes on the Skies" and "Hidden Universe", two books produced in a unique collaboration between the International Astronomical Union (IAU), the European Southern Observatory, the European Space Agency and the international publisher Wiley-VCH, have just been announced as 2008 bestsellers. The publisher's second ranking bestseller is "Eyes on the Skies", which tells the fascinating story of the telescope through words and a wealth of stunning photographs and illustrations (plus a 60-minute documentary DVD). In 8th place, "Hidden Universe" achieves the tricky task of communicating unseen phenomena comprehensively and without jargon, beginning with a look at the way we observe the Universe using our eyes and telescopes and then travelling across the five wavelength bands. Both books are released at the occasion of the International Year of Astronomy 2009.

16 January 2009: The unique planetary nebula NGC 2818 is nested inside the open star cluster NGC 2818A. Both the cluster and the nebula reside over 10 000 light-years away, in the southern constellation Pyxis (the Compass). NGC 2818 is one of very few planetary nebulae in our galaxy located within an open cluster. Open clusters, in general, are loosely bound and they disperse over hundreds of millions of years. Stars that form planetary nebulae typically live for billions of years. Hence, it is rare that an open cluster survives long enough for one of its members to form a planetary nebula. This open cluster is particularly ancient, estimated to be nearly one billion years old. The spectacular structure of NGC 2818 (also known as PLN 261+8.1) contains the outer layers of a sun-like star that were sent off into interstellar space during the star' s final stages of life. These glowing gaseous …

15 December 2008: In this new Hubblecast Special episode, Dr. J guides us through the seventh chapter of Eyes on the Skies, the International Astronomical Union's movie celebrating the telescope's 400th anniversary in 2009. The Eyes on the Skies movie explores the many facets of the telescope — the historical development, the scientific importance, the technological breakthroughs, and also the people behind this ground-breaking invention, their triumphs and their failures. The telescope has been mankind's window on the Universe for four hundred years. It has provided scientists with unprecedented views of planets, stars and galaxies from our cosmic doorstep to the very depths of space and time. But despite their incredible performance, even the newest and most powerful telescopes leave room for improvement. Astronomers always want to venture beyond their current horizons. In this final chapter we take a look at things to come — the revolutionary ground-based telescopes and space observatories of …

11 December 2008: In this new Hubblecast Special episode, Dr. J guides us through the sixth chapter of Eyes on the Skies, the International Astronomical Union's movie celebrating the telescope's 400th anniversary in 2009. The Eyes on the Skies movie explores the many facets of the telescope — the historical development, the scientific importance, the technological breakthroughs, and also the people behind this ground-breaking invention, their triumphs and their failures. There's no better place for a telescope than space itself. Above the Earth's atmosphere observations are no longer hampered by air turbulence, so telescopic images of distant stars and galaxies are razor-sharp. Unlike a ground-based telescope, an instrument in Earth orbit can operate twenty-four hours a day and reach every part of the sky. Observing from space also makes it possible to study types of radiation that are otherwise absorbed by the atmosphere. Little wonder that the Hubble Space Telescope has made so …

5 December 2008: NASA officials announced Thursday that Shuttle mission STS-125 to repair the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope is now scheduled for launch on 12 May 2009.The delay to the mission, from the original launch date in September, was due to the failure of a data-handling unit on the telescope. Despite a successful switchover to a back-up unit, officials decided that a replacement unit would need to form part of the servicing mission. Since then engineers have conducted a series of tests on a spare unit to ensure it is qualified for spaceflight. These tests are on schedule and the plan is to ship the replacement Science Instrument Command and Data Handling System for integration on the Shuttle payload in spring 2009.Servicing Mission 4 is the last repair mission to Hubble, and will see the installation of two new instruments, WFC3 and COS, the repair of two others, ACS and STIS, along with …

25 November 2008: In this new Hubblecast Special episode, Dr. J guides us through the fifth chapter of Eyes on the Skies, the International Astronomical Union's movie celebrating the telescope's 400th anniversary in 2009. The Eyes on the Skies movie explores the many facets of the telescope – the historical development, the scientific importance, the technological breakthroughs, and also the people behind this ground-breaking invention, their triumphs and their failures. The Universe is a black void, with a scattering of stars, nebulae and galaxies – or so it appears to observers using visible light. But if we include other forms of radiation invisible to us, the picture changes completely: clouds of interstellar hydrogen gas, emitting radio waves; stellar nurseries, glowing in the infrared; explosive outbursts of gamma rays and the all-sky background hiss of the Big Bang, diluted by almost fourteen billion years of cosmic expansion. So how do astronomers learn about the …

3 November 2008: In this new Hubblecast Special episode, Dr. J guides us through the fourth chapter of Eyes on the Skies, the International Astronomical Union's movie celebrating the telescope's 400th anniversary in 2009. The Eyes on the Skies movie will be released during the autumn and winter of 2008 (further information is available via the links below) and will explore the many facets of the telescope – the historical development, the scientific importance, the technological breakthroughs, and also the people behind this ground-breaking invention, their triumphs and their failures. Observing the Universe through the eyepiece of a telescope is one thing, but recording the observations for posterity is something quite different. Originally astronomers used pen and paper to draw what they saw, but the human eye is a dreadful detector and our brain can play tricks on us. Astrophotography, first explored in the mid-nineteenth century, has proved to be a powerful, objective …

31 October 2008: NASA officials announced 30 October 2008 that the planned Hubble Servicing Mission 4, originally scheduled for late September, will at the earliest take place in May 2009. The decison comes after engineers completed an initial assessement of the work required to bring the replacement Science Instrument Command and Data Handling system into flight readiness. The Hubble flight spare has been at Goddard since it was originally delivered as a back-up system in 1991. The unit currently is undergoing testing and examination to identify and correct any problems. That work will continue until mid-December. The unit will then undergo environmental assessments that include electro-magnetic interference checks, vibration tests, and extended time in a thermal vacuum chamber. Environmental testing is anticipated to run from mid-December to early March 2009. Final testing will be conducted on the unit, and delivery to NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida is expected in early April. "The …

27 October 2008: Science operations with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope resumed over the weekend, four weeks after a problem with the science data formatter took the spacecraft into safe mode. Reactivation of the Wide Field Planetary Camera-2 took place at around 15:00 CEST on 25 October 2008 as the science computer issued commands to finally bring the instrument back online. The first science data will serve to check and calibrate the instrument, before scheduled observations resume later in the week. In addition, scientists are hopeful of releasing an image towards the end of the week. Image credit: NASA, ESA and Allison Loll/Jeff Hester (Arizona State University). Acknowledgement: Davide De Martin (ESA/Hubble)

24 October 2008: Following a week of thorough investigations as a result of two anomalies observed last week, NASA, on 23 October 2008, approved the resumption of activities to bring the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope back to science operational status. The first anomaly observed was in the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS). The problem arose when a low voltage power supply failed to reach the minimum voltage prior to a system check. Due to changes in the configuration of ACS in anticipation of the planned servicing mission and a reset of the system clock, there was insufficient time allowed between the power-up and the health check. Timing analysis confirmed that the minimum 8 volts was attained by the LVPS shortly after the check. Accordingly, the software has been changed for all future ACS operations. The ACS solar blind channel should be operational by the middle of next week. The second anomaly caused the …

22 October 2008: Engineers at NASA continue to investigate the two anomalies which occurred during the reactivation of the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope last week. Currently the focus is on assessing the ongoing risks for the activities needed to bring restore Hubble to full science capability prior to Servicing Mission 4. In the last few days, engineers reviewed the data from both anomalies. On the Solar Blind Channel of the ACS the low voltage power supply reached its nominal 8 volt output just moments after the internal check. Engineers now need to determine if they can restart the power supply and whether there is any impact on the planned repair of ACS. The cause of the Science Instrument Command and Data Handling (SI C&DH-B;) shutdown has been narrowed to an unspecified electrical event that triggered a reset of both Control Unit/Science Data Formatter-B and the NASA Standard Spacecraft Computer-1 (NSSC-1) Central Processing Module-B …

18 October 2008: The process of restoring the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope to operational status was temporarily put on hold due to a couple of anomalies observed on the spacecraft during reconfiguration. The first event, occurring at ~19:40 CEST, 16 October, led to a suspension in operations of the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) when a power source in the Solar Blind Camera failed to activate. The camera software was undertaking a series of checks and determined that a low voltage power source was not producing the minimum 8 volts required and automatically put the instrument into safe mode. While the cause is known it is unclear at the moment what the work around is. At ~23:14 CEST, 16 October, an as yet unknown problem affecting the Science Instrument Command and Data Handling (SI C&DH;) system caused the main science computer to stop issuing a keep-alive signal. The main computer and the science …

17 October 2008: Engineers at ground control spent yesterday, 16 October, activating in a planned sequence the instruments onboard the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. The three primary instruments, the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS), Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2) and Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS), were brought out of safe mode and the interface to the new B-channel established. At around 18:00 CEST commands were issued to the spacecraft to use the new B-channel to activate the instruments and begin internal exposures and calibrations. The retrieval and review of this data should be completed by 18:00 CEST on 17 October and will involve comparing baseline exposures from the old and new channels. At around the same time a full schedule of science operations should resume. Image credit: NASA.

16 October 2008: The process of restoring the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope to full science operations is proceeding smoothly according to ground control teams. By about 15:30 CEST on 15 October, the control commands had successfully switched operations over to run on the back-up B-channel; and a few hours later Hubble was brought out of safe mode as the main computer resumed control of the spacecraft. Engineers on the ground were hoping to receive updated telemetry at around midnight CEST to confirm that the instruments are working with the back-up channel and science data is transmitted to ground. Further commands and procedures to be executed today (16 October) will continue to bring different components online and resume a number of key functions, such as communications satellite tracking and checking out the instruments. These last steps in the process are well rehearsed and have been accomplished several times throughout the lifetime of Hubble. If …

15 October 2008: At a teleconference on 14 October 2008, NASA officials revealed the timeline for restoring the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope to operational status following its entry into safe mode three weeks ago. Bringing Hubble back into operation will require the so-called Control Unit/Science Data Formatter to be switched over from its current failed channel-A to the back-up channel-B. To do this requires the main spacecraft to be placed into safe mode, the channel-B electronics to be brought online and then several supporting components to be switched to operate on the new channel. The science instruments themselves and the main spacecraft control systems are unaffected by this change. To achieve the switch-over a series of commands will be transmitted to the spacecraft. Although many elements of the command chain have been carried out previously (Hubble has entered safe mode on six occasions throughout its life) this is the first time this particular …

1 October 2008: At approximately 02:00 (CEST) on Sunday September 28, the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope automatically entered safe mode when errors were detected in the Control Unit/Science Data Formatter-Side A. This component is essential for the storage and transmission of data from the telescope's science instruments back to Earth. Ground control attempts to reset the device and obtain a download of the payload computer's memory were unsuccessful. NASA specialists are currently investigating the problem and are in the process of planning a switch-over to the redundant Side B. This is a complex task and requires that five other modules are also switched to communicating via the B channel. Many of these modules were last activated 20 years ago during ground testing prior to launch. If this transition is successfully completed the telescope could rapidly be returned to science operations. NASA is now also evaluating the possibility of flying a back-up replacement system …

25 September 2008: In this new Hubblecast Special episode, Dr. J guides us through the third chapter of Eyes on the Skies, the International Astronomical Union's official movie celebrating the telescope's 400th anniversary in 2009. The Eyes on the Skies movie will be released during the autumn and winter of 2008 (further information is available via the links below) and will explore the many facets of the telescope – the historical development, the scientific importance, the technological breakthroughs, and also the people behind this ground-breaking invention, their triumphs and their failures. Progress in telescopic astronomy would have come to a grinding halt in the second half of the twentieth century if it weren't for the digital revolution. Powerful computers have enabled a wealth of new technologies that have resulted in the construction of giant telescopes, perched on high mountaintops with monolithic or segmented mirrors as large as swimming pools. Astronomers have even devised …

16 September 2008: Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have observed a mystery object in the constellation of Böotes. Despite detailed analysis of the light emitted by the object, astronomers are puzzled by the nature of and distance to the object known as SCP 06F6. All we know comes from a series of observations made over the course of a few months. The object was first detected on 21 February 2006 while scientists were using Hubble to survey very distant galaxy clusters for supernovae. The object continued to brighten by a factor of over 100 during the course of the next three months, without exceeding magnitude 21, and then faded away in an identical manner. This in itself is highly unusual – most light curves from transient events are not symmetrical, but have a rapid rise and a slow decay. The second part to this mystery is the spectrum. Follow-up observations with …

3 September 2008: In this new Hubblecast Special episode, Dr. J guides us through the second chapter of Eyes on the Skies, the International Astronomical Union's official movie celebrating the telescope's 400th anniversary in 2009. The Eyes on the Skies movie will be released during the autumn and winter of 2008 (further information is available via the links below) and will explore the many facets of the telescope – the historical development, the scientific importance, the technological breakthroughs, and also the people behind this ground-breaking invention, their triumphs and their failures. In their quest for ever-fainter objects and finer detail, astronomers have always demanded bigger telescopes. Scientific vision, technical nerve and personal perseverance led to the giant observatories of the early 20th century. Located on remote peaks and protected beneath majestic domes, these awe-inspiring instruments have revealed an expanding and evolving Universe, populated by a stunning variety of galaxies and nuclear powered stars …