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NASA Unveils New Hubble Telescope Images

by Annina Bergman | September 9, 2009 at 10:47 am

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NASA's Hubble Telescope has been repaired and upgraded, and several new Hubble images were revealed on the NASA Hubble Space Telescope website today.

Hubble was first launched 19 years ago, in April 1990. It was named after American astronomer Edwin Hubble (1889-1953). The Hubble telescope has been serviced in space five times since its launch, and was last refurbished in May, when astronauts installed instruments that are faster and more sensitive to light.

Hubble's new images of the universe are clearer than ever before. The telescope can now take images over a wide range of wavelengths of light.

Hubble's new instruments, including the Wide Field Camera 3 a new super-sensitive spectrograph, were installed on the 19-year-old telescope by shuttle astronauts during a 13-day service mission in May. The mission also revived two instruments — Hubble's main ACS and a versatile imaging spectrograph — that were never designed to be fixed in space.