ACE Class Report – Hubble Space Telescope.
Begin: 8/2/2023
Finish: 9/13/2023
Title: Hubble Space Telescope
Instructor: Professor David M. Meyer
Northwestern University
Why I chose to take this Class:
Hubble Space Telescope gives me the opportunity to learn about space, the Final Frontier. It opens up the whole galaxy. It will enrich my knowledge. It will be good teaching and mentoring material.
What I learned in this Class:
Hubble Space Telescope is a powerful orbiting telescope that provides sharp images of heavenly bodies. It is a reflective telescope with light gathering mirror 94 inches (2.4 M) in diameter. It was named after American Astronomer Edwin P. Hubble.
How the telescope works: It orbits 380 miles above earth, it views the heavens without looking through earths atmosphere. The atmosphere bends light because of diffraction and the atmosphere is constantly moving. This combination of diffraction and movements makes starlight appear to twinkle. Because the telescope is above the atmosphere, twinkling is eliminated and does not blur the pictures it takes. It can also observe ultraviolet and infrared light that is blocked by the atmosphere. Ultraviolet lights comes from highly energetic processes, such as formation of disk around black holes and exploding stars. Infrared lights provided information about cooler, calmer events, such as formation of dust clouds around new stars. NASA operates the Hubble Telescope in cooperation with European Space Agency. The Telescope is controlled by radio commands relayed from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. The telescope transmit the data by radio to astronomers stationed on the ground.
Hubble has two kinds of Instruments: 1) Imagers, which takes pictures, and 2) Spectrographs, which analyze light. The Imager are electronic detectors called Charger-Couple Devised (CCD). The CCD’s convert light into electronic signals, which an on board computer records and sends to the ground. The spectrograph like a prism, spreads light into its component colors. The resulting band of light is called a spectrum. using spectrographic data from the telescope, astronomer can determine the composition of stars and galaxies – measuring the amount of Hydrogen, Carbon and other elements. The space shuttle discovery launched the telescope into orbit in 1990. They found a flaw that makes the image less clear. They corrected the flaw in 1993. They also replaces the solar panels to keep it from rattling and distorting the image.
Form the Comet Shoemaker – Levy 9, it show how a meteor as a single comet can disintegrate in smaller comet of 21 individual fragments. Comet unlike meteors which last for a very short time, comet can last for weeks in the sky. We were able to see 21 fragments smashed into Jupiter. It recorded 20 impacts to Jupiter ranging from 1 million – 100 million Hiroshima Atom bombs. It also shows that Jupiter is a giant gas ball and its red spot is a giant gas hurricane. IN the Sagittarius Star Cloud form Milky Way galaxy. The galaxy is very large – The brightest Star Alfa Centaurus is about 4 light years away, Sun to earth is eight light minutes away. From the color and luminosity we can determine the temperature and distance and hence determine the age of the star. The dark patches are dust cloud. But can be view through infrared lights. The Eagle Nebula – The Star Factory, we can see how new stars and galaxies are formed through the Hubble telescope. The Emission Nebula – Where hot star is close enough to ionize part of an interstellar cloud and produce the characteristic red glow of abundant Hydrogen. The Cat’s Eye Nebula – The Star Demise – Star collapse and create an explosion it can be ring or bipolar structure and it is also causes the star to be brightest in the sky. the Crab Nebula – It Show a supernova aftermath after the star collapse. Betelgeuse – Alpha Orion is one of the brightest star in the Orion Galaxy which is due to collapse. Supernova happens every 100 years. Neutron star – the collapsed core remnant of the exploded supergiant. It weight a billon ton per tea spoon. It gives out Neutrino which is how astronomers detect supernova.
How will this class contribute to my success upon my release:
This class will help me expand my knowledge and to teach new topics that are not normally taught. This class will improve my teaching and mentoring skills for the geriatric and immigrant communities.
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