See What NASA's Hubble Sees, with the Click of a Mouse

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February 08, 2001 12:00AM (EST)Release ID: 2001-06

Illustration of the Hubble Space Telescope floating over Earth

Summary

How old is the universe? How big is it? What is its fate? Where did the planets, stars, and galaxies come from? Are we alone here? Scientists seeking answers to these age-old questions?which have eluded humankind for centuries?have made astounding progress using NASA's orbiting Hubble Space Telescope. Now anyone with access to the World Wide Web can go online to visit Hubble Space Telescope: New Views of the Universe, a popular Smithsonian exhibition highlighting Hubble's unique contributions to our understanding of the universe. The new Web site seeks to simulate the experience of visiting the actual exhibition, which is now touring the United States.

Full Article

Model of the Hubble Space Telescope

Each day, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope collects enough information and images to fill five encyclopedias. Now, anyone with access to a computer and the World Wide Web can see the most exciting pictures captured by the world's first space-based optical telescope.

A new web site, "Hubble Space Telescope: New Views of the Universe," highlights the unique contributions to astronomy by this tireless observatory. The exhibition was developed by the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI), Baltimore, MD, in collaboration with the Smithsonian Institution.

The new Internet portal seeks to simulate the experience of visiting the Smithsonian exhibition, which is now touring the country. Support for developing this exhibition was provided by NASA and the Lockheed-Martin Corporation.

Since its launch in 1990, the orbiting Hubble Space Telescope has provided unprecedented views of the Universe. Using spectacular Hubble images, the exhibition and its companion web site take visitors on a fascinating exploration of Martian weather, colliding galaxies, the tumultuous life cycles of stars, very distant celestial objects, and even a comet colliding with Jupiter.

The web site shares many of the physical exhibition's features, such as videos, a roadmap of how long the light from different objects in space takes to reach us here on Earth and virtual reality activities, which gives users a true hands-on experience of the orbiting observer.

"Hubble Space Telescope: New Views of the Universe" is a special feature of HubbleSite, Hubble's official online home and the web's most comprehensive source of Hubble news, pictures, information, and educational resources. Both web sites were developed by STScI, which manages the science program for the Hubble Space Telescope and is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc. for NASA, under contract with NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD.

The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between NASA and the European Space Agency.