The Hubble Space Telescope (one of NASA's "Great Observatories") is without a doubt the world's most famous space telescope! 🔭It was fortunate though that the Hubble was (the only space telescope ever) designed for maintenance in space, because right after it had been carried into orbit by the space shuttle "Discovery" in April 1990 and it started sending back pictures, it was discovered that one of the mirrors was not polished properly...
It would take three years to correct this problem, but once it was, Hubble's new pictures, were some of the most beautiful and detailed pictures of our universe ever taken. The most famous picture it took perhaps is that of the M16 Eagle Nebula NGC 6611. This picture of the "Pillars of Creation" taken on November 2nd 1995, inspired many scientists and amateur astronomers: those are stars being born... 🪐
The Hubble has expanded our knowledge of our universe but now it is growing old and tired... And with today's powerful computers that are able to compensate for the light distortions caused by Earth's atmosphere, it is becoming obsolete.
Because it's a public's favorite however, NASA decided to give its a few extra years. If you want to know more about the Hubble Space Telescope, the Hubble Site is a great resource. Of course you can also download the plans to build your own hand-held Hubble from paper (or from PVC if you can get some extra parts you need)!
- Intermediate hand held Hubble papercraft model: https://hubblesite.org/contents/media/products/01F2JGF4XFRD618VWVXB10GZ7Z.html
- Expert hand held Hubble papercraft model: https://hubblesite.org/contents/media/products/01F2M3JXMG10EKX9FBQAPGR372
- (and the PVC model is here: https://hubblesite.org/contents/media/products/01F2JGDJNYW54WJN96X5T3R9N1.html - you'll need some extra materials to make this one 😉)
(download instructions: download the Directions and Pattern Sheets under "Download Options" on the right side of the HubbleSite Hand Held Hubble webpages)
Have fun building! 😊
Please I would love to have the model for construction
ReplyDeleteLuckily the paper models are still tehre, it's just that the HubbleSite has been rearranged a couple of times the past 13 years... :op
DeleteThe Intermediate hand held Hubble papercraft is here: https://hubblesite.org/contents/media/products/01F2JGF4XFRD618VWVXB10GZ7Z.html"
And the Expert model is here now https://hubblesite.org/contents/media/products/01F2M3JXMG10EKX9FBQAPGR372
(and the PVC model is here: https://hubblesite.org/contents/media/products/01F2JGDJNYW54WJN96X5T3R9N1.html
Have fun building!