General, Research, Technology

See what your Hubble telescope saw on your birthday

Agree, it’s always interesting to know whathappened in the world day, on the day of our birth. So, someone was born on the same day as an outstanding musician, someone with a scientist or dictator, and someone’s birthday coincides with the collapse of the Titanic or the invention of penicillin. And although from the point of view of science, such “numerology” does not say anything about you and me, the events that happened in the world on our birthday allow us to feel our involvement in what is happening in the Universe. In the end, this information is simply nice to share with friends and at the same time learn something interesting about their birthday. However, many, it seems to me, are very recklessly not paying attention to space exploration. The fact is that the NASA Hubble space telescope was launched into orbit on April 24, 1990, which means that for 30 years it has been peering into the abyss of the cosmic ocean every day and that everyone today can see the best picture taken on your birthday or any other day of the year over the past thirty years. This was made possible thanks to the just announced service from NASA.

This is how space looked like on April 24, 1991. Here is the remainder of a supernova explosion Cygnus Loop Supernova Remnant

Hubble telescope 30 years

Hubble Space Telescope is an automaticEarth Observatory Observatory. Hubble was the first large optical telescope launched into Earth orbit on April 24, 1990. To date, the telescope has conducted more than 1.4 million observations. Hubble is located at a distance of approximately 569 kilometers from the planet’s surface, and it rotates around it in just over an hour and a half. The legendary telescope got its name in honor of Edwin Hubble, one of the most influential astronomers and cosmologists of the 20th century, who made a decisive contribution to understanding the structure of space. Over the years of continuous operation, the Hubble comic telescope captured almost 1.5 million images of celestial objects - galaxies, planets, stars and nebulae.

Read more about astronomers' amazing discoveries on our channel in Yandex.Zen

In honor of the upcoming anniversary of the legendary Hubble Space Telescope, NASA made a gift to all the inhabitants of our planet. Now you can see the best shot that Hubble took on absolutely any day, including your birthday - albeit not the first. To see the photo, all you need to do isenter your month and birthday in a special form on the official website of NASA and immediately a magnificent picture of an amazing space object located on the expanses of the infinite Universe will appear. When viewing photographs, it is important to understand that we are seeing a whirlpool of stars as they were when dinosaurs roamed the earth.

Hubble explores the universe 24 hours a day, 7days a week. This means that he saw some exciting space miracle every day, including on your birthday, ”the NASA official statement said.

By entering your birthday on NASA, the bestThe photograph taken on my birthday over the past 30 years was a photograph of the spiral galaxy NGC 4013, which, as it turned out, is little known. So, the only information that I managed to find - though I didn’t search for long - turned out to be the results of a radio research according to which NGC 4013, with its thick disk of light-absorbing dust, can be a closed spiral.

Galaxy NGC 4013 is located 55 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Ursa Major. Photo taken 1/25/2000

And if you enter in the form on April 18, then the best shot will be Messier 79 - A globular cluster in the constellation Hare, which was discovered by Pierre Meshen in 1780. You just look what a beauty:

The globular cluster was discovered by the French astronomer Pierre Meschen

Let me remind you that by 2020, NASA engineers successfullytested the mirror of the new James Webb Space Telescope, which should replace its famous predecessor as early as next year. It should be noted that the development of a new telescope was not an easy task for NASA. The fact is that its launch into orbit was planned back in 2018, but the engineers faced a number of delays. This was influenced by the complexity of the design of the apparatus and the need for components. The fact is that the James Webb telescope is the most complex telescope in the world. Now NASA is confident that the launch of the telescope into orbit will take place in 2021.

What did Hubble see on your birthday? Share your answer in the comments on this article, as well as with the participants in our Telegram chat.

In the meantime, its rightful place in Earth orbitthe birthday is occupied, we can enjoy an aesthetically satisfying search engine, which is certainly very funny and allows you to have a great time. But what she really demonstrates is how the constantly and relentlessly space telescope worked throughout her life. The fact that he has at least one image for every day of the year is evidence of his seemingly endless life span, as well as the genuine interest of his scientific team in the stars and the cosmic ocean.

Let's see what the Hubble shot on famous days. For example, April 12, Cosmonautics Day. In the photo (April 12, 2010) we see a ghostly green ball of gas that seems to float around a normally looking spiral galaxy. Strange object, called Hanny’s voorwerp, is the visible part of the stretching around the galaxy gas stream with a length of 300,000 light-years, called IC 2497.

300,000 light-years IC 2497 gas stream

And now let's take March 9, the birthday of Yuri Gagarin. In the photo, the galactic cluster Abell 2261. Giant elliptical galaxy in the centerThis image is the most massive and brightest member of the Abell 2261 cluster. The galaxy, whose width exceeds one million light years, is about 10 times larger than our Milky Way galaxy.

Galaxy cluster Abell 2261

And in conclusion, we note the day when Ilon Musk was born - June 28. This image shows the shells of stars around a quasar known as MC2 1635 + 119. Quasars are some of the brightest objects in the universe. They are located in the centers of galaxies and feed on supermassive black holes.

These are the shells of stars around a quasar

Well, now you can check the memorable day for yourself. You can do this on the special NASA page.