Earth Science 11 – Hubble Telescope

The Hubble Space Telescope has increased our understanding of the universe immensely.  It has also given rise to many new questions we have about our universe.  This assignment will give you some background information on the Hubble Telescope as well as showing you how astronomers use some of the images collected from the telescope.

Start by visiting the site:  http://www.answers.com/topic/hubble-space-telescope and answering these questions.

  1. How far above the Earth does the Hubble Space Telescope Orbit?
  2. How does being in space make the Hubble a more effective telescope?
  3. How long does it take the Hubble to orbit the Earth?
  4. When was the Hubble launched?
  5. How is the Hubble repaired?

Next visit the site:  http://hubblesite.org/the_telescope/hubble_essentials/ and answer the next set of questions.  You will need to read the “Changing Astronomy”, “Why a Space Telescope?” and “How It Works” sections to answer the questions 

  1. How old is the universe according to information from the Hubble?
  2. What are protoplanetary disks?
  3. What are the two problems the Earth’s atmosphere presents to telescopes?
  4. What kind of light does the Wide Field Camera 3 see?
  5. What are the functions of:

a)      Cosmic Origins Spectrograph  (COS)
b)      Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS)
c)      Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS)
d)      Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS)
e)      Fine Guidance Sensors (FGS)

Now for a fun/interesting web activity open the page:
http://amazing-space.stsci.edu/resources/explorations/hdf/ and choose “Get Oriented” to start.
Answer the following questions as you work through the orientation.
Note:  Blue words are defined when you click on them.

  1. What is the Hubble Deep Field?
  2. Where does professor WifPic get his name?
  3. Watch the animation and explain how the Hubble is able to focus on one point in space as it orbits the Earth.
  4. Write down your five questions.
  5. Why does the deep field image have a funny shape?  Include the diagram in your explanation.

Next choose Stellar Statistician and follow the instructions.  Don’t forget to answer the following questions.

  1. What is your first estimate?
  2. Record your estimate of your representative sample.
  3. What is your total for the entire deep field image?
  4. What is the astronomers’ estimate?
  5. What would your estimate of all the objects in the universe be?
  6. How tall is a stack of paper with one billion dots?Posted May 24, 2013

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