Nunca a Humanidade viu tão longe!

Sabiam? Não, em Portugal não se fala de coisas importantes. Mas há já vários anos que foram feitas estas imagens, que são das galáxias mais distantes jamais vistas por seres humanos. Apontaram o Telescópio Espacial Hubble a um ponto aparentemente sem estrelas, e fizeram uma longuíssima exposição. O resultado foi o Hubble Deep Field e, mais tarde, o Hubble Ultra Deep Field.

A Humanidade nunca viu tão longe, e estas são porventura as imagens mais importantes da História.

O Telescópio Espacial Hubble ficará 90 vezes mais potente!

Após a futura missão de reparação do Hubble, nos próximos meses, calcula-se que a capacidade do Hubble se torne 90 vezes maior do que aquela que tem tido até à avaria da ACS - Advanced Camera for Surveys.

Adicionalmente, a ACS também irá ser reparada, embora esta operação seja extremamente delicada, e nunca tentada no espaço, pelo que as possibilidades de sucesso são impossíveis de calcular neste momento.

A ACS é a 'camera principal' do Hubble, que obteve as imagens espetaculares que todos nós estamos habituados a ver nos meios de comunicação social.

Resta-nos esperar que o intenso treino a que os astronautas da missão de serviço estão a ser sujeitos seja suficiente para levar a bom porto tão importante missão.

Fonte: New Scientist Space

Upgraded Hubble telescope to be 90 times as powerful

• 17:58 08 January 2008
• NewScientist.com news service
• David Shiga, Austin

Space shuttle astronauts will attempt an unprecedented in-orbit repair of key Hubble Space Telescope (HST) instruments during the servicing mission scheduled for August 2008. The repairs, along with the addition of two new instruments, will make Hubble 90 times as powerful as it was after its flawed optics were corrected in 1993.

In October 2006, NASA announced plans to carry out a fourth and final servicing mission for Hubble, in which it would install two new scientific instruments and replace the observatory's batteries and gyroscopes. But previously the agency has not said whether it would attempt a difficult repair of two key instruments that have broken down in recent years.

The Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS), which died in January 2007, was Hubble's highest resolution camera and its most-used instrument. And the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS), which failed in 2004, measured light spectra in the ultraviolet, allowing it to gauge the distance and composition of distant galaxies.

Now, the space agency says it will try something never attempted in the three previous Hubble servicing missions – a finicky electronics repair job in space, where astronauts have the challenge of doing everything while wearing bulky spacesuit gloves.

Without the repair mission, Hubble would likely die by 2011, when its last functioning gyroscope is expected to fail. But with new gyroscopes and batteries installed on the upcoming servicing mission, HST should last at least until 2013, and possibly into the 2020s.

Early galaxies

Two powerful new instruments will be installed on the mission. The Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) will allow Hubble to see fainter and more distant galaxies than anything it has seen before, shedding light on the early universe.

This could allow Hubble to see galaxies so far away that we see them as they were just 400 million years after the big bang, says Sandra Faber of the University of California in Santa Cruz, US, a member of the panel that recommended that NASA carry out the final servicing mission.

To date, the most distant galaxies seen by Hubble appear to be from about 800 million years after the big bang, which occurred 13.7 billion years ago. "The universe evolves extremely rapidly at these early times, so a [time] difference like this makes a huge difference in the structure and size of galaxies [that exist in those eras]," Faber said at a press conference on Tuesday at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Austin, Texas, US.

Another new instrument, the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS), can obtain ultraviolet light spectra of very faint, distant objects such as quasars – huge black holes that are glowing as they gobble up surrounding gas. COS can measure much fainter objects than STIS, although STIS can get more detailed spectra of the objects it can see.

'90 Hubbles'

With its new instruments, Hubble will be 90 times as powerful as it was supposed to be when first launched – it will be like having 90 of the original Hubble Space Telescopes, astronomers say. The improvement comes from a combination of increased sensitivity and wider fields of view, allowing Hubble to see 900 galaxies where its original instruments would have revealed only 10. HST will be about 60% more powerful than it was right after the third servicing mission, before ACS and STIS failed.

The most challenging part of the mission will be to repair ACS and STIS. "We're going to do something that has never been done in space," said John Grunsfeld, NASA's lead spacewalking astronaut for the servicing mission.

Both repairs involve astronauts unfastening dozens of tiny screws to replace some circuit boards on each of the instruments – all while wearing bulky spacesuit gloves. Such a feat has never been attempted before in space.

The astronauts will also have to cut through metal layers to reach the circuit boards, creating sharp edges that could be hazardous to spacesuits. In the case of ACS, Grunsfeld may not even be able to see the screws he is working with because of the way the instrument is angled inside HST.

Risky business

Grunsfeld has been practicing this tricky manoeuvre in a "neutral buoyancy laboratory" – a water tank designed to simulate the weightlessness of orbit. "Amazingly ... training in a neutral buoyancy lab in the spacesuit, I've been able to do this," he said.

He added that he is willing to put his life on the line for the risky mission. "I still believe that Hubble science and the Hubble programme is still something worth risking my life [for], and I know I have six other crew members who believe that as well," he said.

NASA science chief Alan Stern said although the mission is still scheduled for August 2008, it could slip because of the launch delays the space shuttle has been experiencing in its missions to assemble the International Space Station. "Our watchword in all of this is safety," he said, adding that if the servicing mission needed to wait until October or even later to make sure the shuttle is safe, then NASA would wait.

During the mission, new insulation blankets will be wrapped around Hubble to make up for cracks in existing insulation and a fine guidance sensor will be added to help HST point itself precisely. Astronauts will also install a "soft capture mechanism" to allow a future robotic mission to grab onto Hubble at the end of its lifetime so that it can safely re-enter the atmosphere and crash into the ocean.

Telescópio espacial Hubble poderá ficar em óbita mais uma década!

A missão de 'reparação' do HST deverá ocorrer durante este ano, e aparentemente já inclui a reparação da Advanced Camera for Surveys, a camera que obtém as imagens espetaculares que estamos habituados a ver.

Fonte: MSNBC


Space telescope could stay up for a decade

Plan would keep Hubble working through 2013, with disposal around 2020

By Jeanna Bryner

Space.com

updated 12:38 p.m. ET Jan. 8, 2008

AUSTIN, Texas - The orbiting space telescope that just won't quit collecting gobs of celestial data well beyond its expected twilight is set for a major tune-up and upgrade, NASA scientists said Tuesday at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society.

This servicing mission will be the Hubble Space Telescope's fifth and last.

The latest word is that the space shuttle Atlantis could lift off in August with a crew of seven astronauts and a cargo of equipment, tools and new instruments for Hubble. But that launch date could change. "That's dependent upon the shuttle flights between now and the servicing mission," said Alan Stern, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. He added that safety always comes first.

Orbiting at about 350 miles (563 kilometers) above Earth, Hubble is above the atmosphere and doesn't have to contend with shifting pockets of air that distort images made by ground-based telescopes. This atmospheric distortion is the reason stars appear to twinkle.

Hubble's clear view has meant, for one, that over its 16-plus years in orbit, the telescope has sent back a spectacular photo album of sci-fi-like jets from black holes, galaxies in all stages of evolution and snapshots of planets in our own solar system.

"Hubble is, without exaggeration, a national treasure," Stern said, "and all of NASA is looking forward to seeing it receive this tune-up and upgrade."

The public's love for Hubble, along with political pressure, has played a role in NASA's decision to service the observatory, a mission deemed risky compared to other shuttle ventures.

Hubble hugger
During the 11-day Hubble service mission, which will include five spacewalks, shuttle astronauts will install two new science instruments plus a set of gyroscopes to help stabilize the telescope, as well as batteries and thermal blankets to keep the observatory operating until at least 2013.

Astronauts will also install a soft capture mechanism that will allow a future unmanned spacecraft to dock with Hubble in about 2020 and deorbit it for a controlled plunge and disposal in the ocean.

Leading the spacewalks will be self-labeled "Hubble Hugger," astronaut John Grunsfeld, who had told Space.com last year he wanted to be on the mission.

"As both an astronaut and an astronomer, the opportunity to go back to Hubble is more than a dream come true," said Grunsfeld. "When we left Hubble in 2002, I was convinced it would be the last time I would see my friend Hubble Telescope," said Grunsfeld, wearing a NASA flight suit and space gloves.

However, he noted, "this mission promises to be quite challenging."

For instance, astronauts will attempt the first-ever on-orbit repair of two existing instruments, the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph, or STIS, and the Advanced Camera for Surveys, which failed a year ago this month.

Installed on Hubble in February 1997, the STIS separates incoming light into its constituent colors, giving astronomers a chemical map of distant objects. Since its deployment, STIS has been critical in the confirmation of black holes at the centers of galaxies, made the first discovery of an atmosphere around an exoplanet and helped confirm the age of the universe.

Better science
Two additions to Hubble's science cargo will include the Wide Field Camera 3, a panchromatic camera that is expected to provide sharp images over a wide range of colors; and the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph.

The Cosmic Origins Spectrograph will probe the large-scale structure of the universe, the so-called cosmic web, in which strands of galaxies transect seemingly empty space like a gargantuan 3-D spider web. The universe's invisible "glue," called dark matter and thought to make up about 85 percent of all matter in the universe, gives the web its structure, astronomers say.

Astronomers infer the existence of the cosmic web just as a child might know a Christmas tree exists by looking at the colorful lights that outline its branches. Instead of little bulbs, the stars and galaxies trace out the cosmic web.

In the end, scientists expect to breathe new and improved life into Hubble.

"Our goal for this mission is to leave Hubble at the apex of its scientific capabilities," said David Leckrone, Hubble senior project scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland. The addition of new instruments along with repairs of others should give astronomers a full "toolbox" for resolving many cosmic conundrums, Leckrone said.

Space Shuttle Endeavour começa a ser preparado para missão em 7 de Agosto

Fotos de Damaris Sarria.
Clique para aumentar.

O Space Shuttle Endeavour foi levado para o Vehicle Assembly Building para ser montado no conjunto do Tanque Externo / Motores auxiliares de combustível sólido (SRBs - Solid Rocket Boosters).

O lançamento está previsto para 7 de Agosto, se tudo correr bem. Não serão de surpreender alterações a esta data.

O Vehicle Assembly Building, onde são montadas
as naves espaciais norte americanas.
É um dos maiores edifícios do Mundo.

Será a primeira missão do Endeavour desde o acidente do Columbia, há 4 anos. Terá uma tripulação de 7 astronautas, que irão continuar a montagem da Estação Espacial Internacional - ISS.

Em princípio haverá mais 12 missões do Space Shuttle. 10 missões serãopara completar a Estação Espacial, mas a NASA gostaria de ter mais duas missões, uma para enviar peças sobressalentes para a ISS, e uma outra para fazer uma reparação ao Telescópio Espacial Hubble.

É uma era que está a chegar ao fim. Pelo menos para a NASA.

Fonte: MSNBC

Link: How I am becoming an Astronaut

Panorâmica com 50.000 galáxias, obtida com o Telescópio Espacial Hubble

Clique para aumentar - ATENÇÃO, ficheiro de 4 Mb.

Esta panorâmica fantástica foi obtida através da combinação de várias fotos do Hubble. Pode consultar a história de como foi criada, e descarregar imagens de maior resolução - incluindo algumas de GIGANTESCA resolução, no HubbleSite.

Imaginem que cada uma daquelas galáxias, que parecem minúsculas, têm biliões de estrelas, talvez até mais do que a nossa própria galáxia. E imaginem que muitas dessas estrelas podem ter planetas a orbitá-las. Alguns poderão ter vida. E alguns desses poderão ter vida inteligente. Será assim tão inconcebível? E como serão diferentes de nós? Que paisagens fantásticas haverá em todos esses milhões de planetas?

E esta panorâmica é de apenas uma ínfima parte do Céu! Vejam a comparação com a Lua:

Clique para aumentar.

E aqui está a localização desta panorâmica (é o rectangulozinho minúsculo designado AEGIS)

Clique para aumentar.

Imaginem ter uma panorâmica geral de todo o Universo com este nível de detalhe. Ou mesmo um nível superior...

Infelizmente, isso não irá acontecer, pelo menos tão cedo, desde que a camera principal do Hubble, a Advanced Camera for Surveys, se avariou. A missão de serviço ao Hubble, planeada para 2008, não irá reparar esta camera. Provávelmente teremos de esperar muito até voltarmos a ter este nível de detalhe e profundidade.