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Today the Hubble Space Telescope will be orbiting the Earth for the 100,000th time!
To celebrate this special milestone, I have actually submitted a proposal, for the telescope to observe NGC 2074, a star-forming region in our neighboring galaxy, the Large Magellanic Cloud. From previews of that region, taken by ground-based telescopes, I am expecting the image to be quite spectacular, but we will not know for sure until the data are in hand, and the image has been properly processed.
Usually, when the odometer in your car shows 100,000, you know that this may be the time to buy a new car. With Hubble things are very different. During the servicing missions, the astronauts not only make necessary repairs, they also install entirely new instruments. In terms of its discovery potential, Hubble after Servicing Mission 4 will be the best it has ever been. In other words, this coming fall, Hubble’s 100k something orbit, will only be the FIRST orbit in the life of the new Hubble.
The image of NGC 2074 has now been published. Read the full press release
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This nebula, imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope on August 10, is about 170,000 light-years away. Credit: NASA, ESA, and M. Livio (STScI) |