On April 24 1990, after almost two decades of design and development, one of the world’s largest and most versatile space telescopes was carried into orbit to begin its life as a vital astronomy research device.

Over the last twenty years, the Hubble telescope has captured some of the most beautiful and important images of the universe, including the famous ‘Ultra Deep Field’ image which is the most detailed visible-light image ever made of the universe’s most distant objects.

The Ultra Deep Field image shows nearly 10 000 galaxies, cuts across billions of light-years and is the deepest visible-light image of the cosmos. Credit: NASA, ESA, S. Beckwith and the HUDF Team

These images have led to many breakthroughs in astrophysics and astronomy, including determining the age of the universe, how galaxies are formed and the discovery of dark energy.

During its 20 year life, the Hubble telescope has been serviced four times, and is the only telescope ever designed to be fixed in space by astronauts. The most recent service was in 2009, which is expected to keep the telescope functioning until 2013, when its successor, the infrared James Webb Space Telescope is due to be launched shortly after.

Sadly, it seems impossible for Hubble to be brought back to Earth safely for museum storage, instead it will likely continue to orbit the Earth until it deteriorates and spirals back home.

The Hubble telescope was invented to solve a problem that astronomers had faced since the invention of the original telescope: the atmosphere.

The Earth’s atmosphere distorts the view of even the world’s largest and most advanced telescopes because of continuously shifting air pockets. It also blocks or absorbs some wavelengths of radiation such as ultraviolet, gamma and x rays before they reach the Earth.

Having a telescope in space away from the earth’s atmosphere means there is no atmospheric distortion so pictures can be clear and precise.

The Hubble telescope is a Cassegrain reflector telescope, which means it works by capturing light through a series of mirrors which direct the images into several science instruments that live within the telescope. Then, antennae send the information back to the Goddard Space Flight Centre in Maryland, USA. Astronomers from anywhere in the world can download the data from the internet, which can be enough to fill 18 DVDs every week.

The Hubble telescope completes an orbit of Earth every 97 minutes, mobbing at about 8km per second, fast enough to travel across Australia in about 11 minutes.

The new James Webb Space Telescope that is being created to replace Hubble will have many of the capabilities of Hubble, but also be able to study objects from the earliest universe, whose light has stretched into infrared light, or ‘red shifted’. It is due to be launched in 2014.

To learn more about Hubble or the James Webb Space Telescope, why not search The National Library of Australia’s Trove database. Simply enter the key words ‘Hubble Space Telescope’ or ‘James Webb Space Telescope’ in the box below!  Or to find out more about Australian space activities visit www.space.gov.au.  

Much thanks to NASA for providing images and information for this story. Images are available at http://hubblesite.org/

The exhibition and symposium brought together several partners including AIATSIS, the CSIRO, Curtin University, the International Centre for Radio Astronomy (ICRAR), Yamaji Art and the Mid West Development Commission.

AIATSIS co-hosted the first ever Indigenous Astronomy Symposium, coinciding with the Ilgarijiri: Things belonging to the sky exhibition by Yamaji artists.

With a full house of over 70 people in the Mabo Room, AIATSIS Principal Russell Taylor said the Institute was honoured to bring together such an inspirational group of people.

“AIATSIS aims to be the nexus between community, academia and policy makers – and today we have shown that this is a format that everyone finds engaging and exciting,” Mr Taylor said.

“We aimed to give everyone a chance to hear different perspectives of the night sky, to share knowledge and build new relationships and perhaps partnerships.

“The response has been overwhelming and we at AIATSIS are delighted to enable this kind of meeting place.”

Eleven Indigenous and non-Indigenous speakers presented at the Symposium on many themes of the night sky. Yamaji Arts Coordinator Charmaine Green told of when Yamaji artists and scientists took to the bush and created the Ilgarijiri project. Researcher Duane Hamacher told of how astronomers are working with Aboriginal dreaming stories to locate meteorite falls and craters that are new to Western science. John Whop explained the philosophy of Tagai in the Torres Strait and Munya Andrews explained Aboriginal astronomy through Aboriginal art, rock art and cultural artefacts including stone circles, bora grounds and Dreamtime stories.

Audio from the Indigenous Astronomy Symposium will be available at: http://www.aiatsis.gov.au/research/symposia/astronomy09.html#program in the coming weeks, and a publication is planned for 2010. 

Ilgarijiri: Things belonging to the Sky is free and open to the public Monday –Friday 9am-5pm and Saturdays 10am-4pm throughout December. It is also open Monday-Fridays in January, expect for the shutdown (25 Dec-4 Jan). AIATSIS is located at Lawson Crescent, Acton Peninsula (next to the National Museum of Australia).

This focus included my attendance at the launch of the International Year of Astronomy in France and a variety of meetings in California, London, Brussels and Paris. At each stop, I took the opportunity to build relationships with members of international science and research communities.

We discussed issues including Australia’s global science engagement; climate change research and policy; sustainable clean energy; and the Square Kilometre Array initiative.

The first engagement of a full schedule was attending the 213th meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Los Angeles, where I delivered the keynote address on: Science, the Sky, and Society: A view from an astronomer in the Antipodes.

Attending this meeting also provided an opportunity to engage with key figures in the American and international astronomical community.

In Brussels, I gave a lecture to the Club of Rome, an influential organisation of scientists, economists, businesspeople, international high-level civil servants, heads of state and former heads of state from five continents.

My lecture, entitled Science, scientists, a sustainable world: Views from Down Under, focused on the role of scientists in addressing key global challenges such as climate change and the importance of international scientific cooperation, given the global dimensions of the challenges we face. A transcript and summarised video of this speech will be available on my website shortly.

I was fortunate to meet with representatives from a number of key European and international organisations including:

• Professor John Beddington, Chief Scientific Advisor to the UK Government
• Professor Fotis Kafatos, President of the European Research Council  and Chairman of its Scientific Council
• Education policy analysts at the UK Royal Society
• Dr Zoran Stančič, the European Commission’s Deputy Director-General for Research
• Mr Stavros Dimas, European Commissioner for the Environment
• Professor Walter Erdelen, Assistant Director General for Natural Sciences, UNESCO
• Ms Sally Mansfield, Australia’s Permanent Delegate to UNESCO
• Dr Marcio Barbosa, Deputy Director-General, UNESCO
• Senior Secretariat Staff of the International Energy Agency
• Professor Jean-Jacques Dordain, Director General of the European Space Agency

This visit was a valuable opportunity to nurture Australia’s international science relations and increase partnerships in areas of Australia’s strengths.

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Media Contact: Rebecca Richter, Office of the Chief Scientist
Mobile: 0410 029 407