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On 24 February 2009, a rare quadruple Saturn moon transit was captured by the Hubble Space Telescope for the first time. The biggest Saturn moon is the Titan which is the most significant one in the photo. It’s even larger than the innermost planet – Mercury. The other 3 moons are Dione, Mimas and Enceladus. Scroll to the bottom for the picture which has the moons labeled.
Continue reading ‘Quadruple Saturn Moon Transit Captured’
Yes, Michael Griffin has announed that Hubble Space Telescope will have its Service Mission 4 (SM4), the final SM, in 2008. It will be giving stunning discoveries again with the latest scientific instruments.
New batteries will be installed during this mission. The capacity of the olds are degraded and cannot work for 2 to 3 more years. Thermal blankets protecting it against the harsh environment of space will be installed as well. Don’t forget the almost broken down gyroscopes. Some of the current are dead and it is running on the backup gyroscopes. These are the basic equipments for it to function properly. Now, we go to the astronomical instruments.
One of the three fine-guidiance sensors will be replaced to improve its ability to track faint guide stars and measure stellar positions with greater accuracy. The Wide Field Camera 3 and Cosmic Origins Spectrograph are the Hubble’s new guns. These two powerful instruments will push its ability to the peak. The astronauts will try to repair the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph. It has stopped operating since 2 years ago when a power supply failed.
Good luck to all the astronauts and staffs joinning this service mission. Did I mention that HST is as old as I am?
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