Hubble Space Telescope spends 18 years on Earth's orbit

On April 24 of the current year 59 new images were published in the beginning of the 19^th flight on the near-earth orbit. The images were taken by the Hubble space observatory. The set of images is the most voluminous “work” of the telescope throughout the whole history of its flights. The Hubble photographed galaxies at different stages of changes. The images show the variety of new and unusual fusion forms that remind of a flying owl or a tooth brush. The fusion of galaxies turned out to be a usual thing in the Universe. Our galaxy Milky Way contains debris of extinct star systems and it will be absorbed by the Great Nebula in Andromeda in a couple of billion years, some scientists consider. The collision of star systems may last for several million years.

	Hubble Space Telescope spends 18 years on Earth's orbit
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A great contribution to this and many other discoveries was the Hubble, a unique device that functions continuously on the orbit for about two decades. It was named after Edwin Hubble (1889-1953) who studied galaxies.

The project of the orbiting telescope was brought forward in 1946 by US astrophysicist Lyman Spitzer and it cost its creators 2.5 billion dollars. Originally, the project was estimated at six billion dollars. The Hubble was initiated in 1978 as a joint project of NASA and the EKA company. Its launch was due in 1983, later it was postponed to 1986. On January 26 the Challenger catastrophe suspended shuttle flights to the orbit. The telescope remained on earth for another four years.

The major part of any reflecting telescope is a reflecting mirror. The mirror of the Hubble is 2.4 meters in diameter and is produced from special glass with an ultralow expansion coefficient. The aluminum reflecting surface, 75 nanometers thick, protects a layer of magnesium fluoride, 25 nanometers thick. The Perkin Elmer produced the mirror and used the up-to-date, though untested, technologies. The Kodak produced another mirror in a traditional way as insurance. The Kodak mirror was unnecessary and became an exhibit in the museum of Smithson’s Institute.

At that time the Hubble preparations were over and it was to be lofted to the orbit four years ago, meanwhile, its details were kept in a special room with pure atmosphere, which made the project much more expensive. Finally, on April, 24 1990 the Discovery shuttle (STS-31 mission) delivered the device to the place.

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