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Hubble's main camera stops working
January 31, 2007On Saturday 27 January, Hubble's main camera, the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS), stopped working. Until a solution, at least in part, can be found, Hubble will be returned to work with the remaining instruments.
On Saturday 27 January 2007 at 13:34 CET the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope entered into a protective "safemode" condition, most likely triggered by a short circuit in Hubble's main instrument the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS). ACS had been running since June 2006 on its secondary backup electrical system.
NASA has full responsibility for the mission operations of Hubble. Accordingly, NASA has set up an Anomaly Review Board. This will investigate whether ACS can be returned to using the primary electrical system enabling one of its parts, the Solar Blind Channel, to return to operation. However, at this time, it is expected that the main part of ACS will most likely not be restored.
In the meantime, Hubble will be returned to work again with the other available instruments onboard: the Near Infrared Camera and Multi-object Spectrometer (NICMOS), the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2) and the Fine Guidance Sensors (FGS'es).
A call to the astronomers using Hubble is being issued, urging them to re-plan their upcoming observing programmes to take the new situation into account. The deadline for these changed proposals for the present observing cycle, Cycle 16 is 9 February 2007. Out of a total of 750 proposals for the cycle, 500 requested use of the ACS camera (2/3).
"ACS took over from WFPC2 as Hubble's "workhorse" at the last Servicing Mission in 2002. Although we are taking a step back, it is far from "game over" for Hubble", says ESA Hubble scientist Bob Fosbury.
European Space Agency
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Goddard team develops new carriers for space station
In a partnership that exemplifies One NASA, engineers at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. teamed up with engineers at NASA's Johnson and Kennedy Space Centers to design, build, and test five new ExPRESS Logistics Carriers, or ELCs, which will be delivered to the International Space Station.
Rapid star formation spotted in 'stellar nurseries' of infant galaxies
The Universe's infant galaxies enjoyed rapid growth spurts forming stars like our sun at a rate of up to 50 stars a year, according to scientists at Durham University.
'Dropouts' pinpoint earliest galaxies
Astronomers, conducting the broadest survey to date of galaxies from about 800 million years after the Big Bang, have found 22 early galaxies and confirmed the age of one by its characteristic hydrogen signature at 787 million years post Big Bang.
Opening up a colorful cosmic jewel box
Star clusters are among the most visually alluring and astrophysically fascinating objects in the sky. One of the most spectacular nestles deep in the southern skies near the Southern Cross in the constellation of Crux.
Scientists use world's fastest supercomputer to model origins of the unseen universe
Understanding dark energy is the number one issue in explaining the universe, according to Salman Habib, of the Laboratory's Nuclear and Particle Physics, Astrophysics and Cosmology group.
Stripped down: Hubble highlights 2 galaxies that are losing it
Ram pressure is the drag force that results when something moves through a fluid - much like the wind you feel in your face when bicycling, even on a still day - and occurs in this context as galaxies orbiting about the centre of the cluster move through the intra-cluster medium, which then sweeps out gas from within the galaxies.
Rebirth of an icon: Hubble's first images since Servicing Mission 4
Astronomers today declared the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope a fully rejuvenated observatory ready for a new decade of exploration, with the release of observations from four of its six operating science instruments.
Astronomers find coldest, driest, calmest place on Earth
The search for the best observatory site in the world has lead to the discovery of what is thought to be the coldest, driest, calmest place on Earth.
Astronomers discover stars in early galaxies had a need for speed
A team of astronomers has measured the motions of stars in a very distant galaxy for the first time and discovered they are whizzing around at astonishingly high speeds-about one million miles per hour, or twice the speed at which the Sun circles our own Milky Way galaxy.
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