Hubble Space Telescope - Deep Sky Videos

After some early and rather embarrassing problems, the Hubble Space Telescope has transformed our view of deep space. Dr Meghan Gray often works with the HST - and now has her very own miniature version.
More from Hubble at hubblesite.org/
Deep Sky Videos website: www.deepskyvideos.com/
Twitter: #!/DeepSkyVideos
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Flickr: www.flickr.com/photos/68847473...
More about the astronomers in our videos: www.deepskyvideos.com/pages/co...
Videos by Brady Haran
Editing in this film by Stephen Slater

[@sam08g16]

Five years have passed and Hubble is still working. Hang in there buddy!!

[@Adrian-yf1zg]

Only because of the other financial disaster that is the James Webb is being delayed by over a decade

[@spockskynet]

2022 and it's still chugging along.

[@Rubrickety]

I had the pleasure and honor of performing (as a juggler) at the 50th birthday party of a Hubble engineer during the period between the original launch and the service mission which fixed it. (I threw in some jokes about redshifted juggling balls, which went over quite well). Most memorable, though, was when the attendees, rather than Pin the Tail on the Donkey, played Pin the Corrective Lens on the Hubble. Clearly their sense of gallows humor was well developed by that point.

[@Metalknighted]

Her voice over and story telling made this an epic, yet a sad video.

[@SharpAssKnittingNeedles]

2023 and hubble is still going strong! As an american proud of this, our greatest contribution to all mankind, I'm so glad. My earliest memories of astronomy are images from hubble and I'm so glad it's still up there giving us data!

[@edp2260]

My dad and his friends worked on Hubble a Lockheed. They were very proud of that program. I later worked at Lockheed as well. On Hubble's 20th anniversary I attended a celebration event that included 2 of the astronauts from the mission that launched the telescope. I met Kathy Sullivan and Bruce McCandless. They were the EVA crew that was to be prepared to do a spacewalk should it be required. It was an amazing spacecraft and an amazing era.

[@Eddie42023]

Sullivan also flew on the first servicing mission, STS-61.

[@sirenbrian]

I especially enjoyed the shot of the astronomers reaction when they received the first good quality images. I always enjoy those "Happy Nerd" shots in any endeavor like this.

[@Almightyquad]

I love having information fed to me through videos. It's alot easier than reading wikipedia entries. Keep it up Brady.

[@onecanina]

I love videos with her! Thanks Brady!

[@slikrx]

As I recal, they DID test the mirror on the ground, but the error on the mirror wasn't in the grinding, it was in the design itself. Which was also used to create the test equipment. So, the test equipment showed "AOK", but since the design of the test equipment was flawed, those results were a false positive...

[@LeonardLew]

What an excellent video. Great narration and a very good choice of images to go along with it.

[@MetalMonarchy]

I sincerely hope they find a way to preserve hubble. Either keep it in orbit or somehow get it back down to the ground and put in a museum. Because that telescope is too precious. In sentimentality.

[@RonJohn63]

We'll let *you* pay for it.

[@velocityra]

MetalMonarchy They'll probably recycle the expensive components of it for new missions.

[@RonJohn63]

***** "extremely poisonous gasses from space" That's the stupidest thing I've read this month.

[@RonJohn63]

***** "They'll probably recycle the expensive components" How are "they" going to get the HST in order to recycle the expensive components?

[@911gpd]

MetalMonarchy what are you suggesting ? "Hey NASA, please attach a bunch of parachutes on the telescope and bring it back to earth !"

[@PoweredMinecart]

Brilliant video, one of your best Brady :).

[@Sickbass42]

What a very well-done video.

[@JimFortune]

So it was inaccurate with a very high degree of precision!

[@JoelHudson]

Jim Fortune yes the hubble's mirror was perfectly the wrong shape ( figure) it was circular, not parabolic

[@shruggzdastr8-facedclown]

Jim Fortune: ...complete with a state-of-the-art infinite-improbability drive. ;^}

[@Allan_aka_RocKITEman]

Like fuzzy logic...😊

[@carlamartin8286]

Wonderful! What a work of art too! Sending best wishes to you from this side! :)

[@Doriide]

I am too young to "remember" Hubble's day one flaws but I knew about them before this video but still nice. Thank you Brady keep more videos coming. :->

[@thesecretathies]

hubble is by far my favorite telescope ever

[@AlanKey86]

I found this strangely moving. Beautiful video.

[@ConsciousAtoms]

I started studying astronomy in 1992. I remember the disappointment of Hubble being ground the wrong way, and the relief (and awe of its first images) when the corrective optics had been installed.

[@JanStrojil]

I saw the IMAX movie about Hubble at the Science Museum in London, it was one of the most intense experiences ever. Unlike some of the other "3D" space films, this one was shot on IMAX cameras and it was as close as one gets to actually being there. Highly recommended.

[@totoritko]

Didn't know that. Thanks for the update.

[@mandydax]

She's Canadian. She got her BSc in New Brunswick. I think the most remarkable thing about her speech is that she often pronounces her t's as t's when most North American English speakers would pronounce them as d's. E.g.: 3:32 "So a few years later..." instead of "...lader..." I don't know if it's a shibboleth of her accent or her just speaking clearly for the video. She is very clear, though, and I enjoy listening to her explain things even if I already know them. :)

[@RMoribayashi]

All upgraded instruments installed during HST servicing missions have taken the curvature of the mirror into account. so the corrective optics the astronauts installed was no longer needed by 2002. That module, called COSTAR, was brought back by the last servicing mission in 2009 to make room for the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph. You can go see it at the National Air and Space Museum.

[@cloj63]

You got to see the looks of NASA people when they corrected Hubble's "vision"; priceless moment of joy!

[@DeepSkyVideos]

We can... in fact I believe Dr Gray has spent time on the selection panel (one of the jobs of many astronomers is to pend tie on these panels, sifting through proposals). See our earlier video with Dr G in which she is writing one of these submissions!

[@lesconrads]

The editing of this video is really good indeed. So much different footage - I love it. I wish you could do magic and release so much more, because I really like your style of videos. Much of the "sciency" series on TV are just not smart enough - they dumb it down way more than needed. You also focus on the layman, but in a way to educate them.

[@olander0808]

I had to go back and watch the reactions of the scientists to the, probably, first picture which indicated that they had fixed the problem. I wonder how different the world would have been today if that mission had failed. For all I know, it could have had a significant impact on subsequent space telescopes and NASA funding etc. I'm glad it worked :) Also, I'm happy that this video was uploaded as I just watched an hour long presentation of the JWST. Should make a good video Brady :)

[@KemaTheAtheist]

Gotta love the Hubble.

[@johnh539]

Hubble introduced many of us to the beauty of the cosmos , it will be like losing an old friend. The simply mind blowing new GMT, Euclid telescope and others will see everything you could ask Hubble to aim at, repeatedly and in grater resolution as a matter of coarse. That has to be one of the most astonishing facts in human history. D S V. 👋👍

[@z-beeblebrox]

I still remember when one of the lenses built to correct Hubble's vision passed through Pittsburgh on its way to Florida. That was a crazy convoy to watch

[@tribiz6762]

2017 and still goin good

[@mina86]

How you get time on various telescopes was mentioned in some other video. You need to submit a proposal and a committee decides whether to grant you that time or not. In some ground telescopes, once your proposal got accepted, you actually go to the telescopes and do the observing; in others (and I assume in case of Hubble), it is done automatically which has a benefit that if the conditions are not good for your observation, some other may be done, and your done later.

[@Deuce1042]

Can't wait. I hope by then I can receive some observation time on it. Its practically impossible to receive time on the Hubble now a days.

[@Muscleduck]

Presents people make themselves are the best :-) Very cool.

[@Mad.E]

Beautiful ... :)

[@phoule76]

although it was indeed disappointing when it failed to work at first deployment, the fact that we successfully serviced the Hubble makes it a little more special, and its images more satisfying, because of the engineering involved in those subsequant missions--not to mention its longevity. Let's just hope James Webb works on the first and only try it'll get!

[@GrimChaos2]

I can't believe I just subscribed to this channel. Wait...yes I can.

[@mameemia]

STILL STRIVING!! GO HUBBLE!!

[@niansenx]

Thank you!

[@zhe0002]

Great Video. You should do a video on pulsars.

[@Carl_Mansfield]

Aww, I was hoping for a video on the Witches Head Nebula (or some other Halloween themed object) never the less, Hubble is still awesome :D

[@fymichaud]

Thanks, very interesting!

[@DeepSkyVideos]

Cheers

[@KitCox]

Dearest Dr. Gray: Please, please, please try and find time to do a video on ARP 273 and explain some of it's incredible features and neighbors!! Not to mention: So many RED objects, so little time...! Humbly thanking you, Kit

[@Oddball_E8]

[@4IN14094]

As the matter of fact, Hubble was designed for a very large spectrum from 0.115-1.03 μm of the STIS to 0.2-1.7 μm of the ACS, near-infrared spectrum was possible before the NICMOS when offline.

[@Mandolinpossum]

During polishing, the device which determined the contour of the mirror wasn't calibrated correctly, saying it was correct when it wasn't. It's one of those things that no amount of on-Earth testing could have spotted, since the telescope relied on being in orbit to function as expected, so they had to take the instrument's word for it. Once they saw it wasn't right, they used data from the onboard null corrector to figure out how bad it was off.

[@CaptainSrzBznz]

lol yea me too, i was so happy to see mission control's reactions when curiosity landed. scientists aren't known to be the happiest/expressive types of people so when they are, you know that it must have been something profound that happened.

[@dkamm65]

I can't frikken wait for the James Webb Space Telescope.

[@forced420]

I remember reading an article in a magazine in '84 or '85 about how they made that mirror and how they fixed a small crack that had developed in the mirror by drilling it out. One part of the article was about how precise they needed to be in their measurements and if they got it wrong it would be a disaster. Years later when they announced the mirror flaw, I remembered that article. It was that article and help from my grandfather which lead to me getting into science and aerospace.

[@victorlange4073]

LEAD vs LED: I will LEAD my people by the hand. He LED his people by the hand. LEAD has the symbol Pb and atomic number 82.

[@azizulislamashiksm-1842]

Well fortunately in 2020 hubble is still going strong. We have been trying to launch JWST for some time now, hopefully they'll get it up there in 2021? I'm gonna come back and rant here if they don't by then!!

[@RafaelloCraiova]

I love this woman!

[@1GoodRiddance]

Wow only 6'' high bumps. This is astonishing!

[@billysgeo]

Probably, but a cool one!

[@robertbackhaus8911]

Interestingly, one of the jobs on the last mission was to remove the correcting mirror array (COSTAR) and replace it with an instrument (Cosmic Origins Spectrograph). In the servicing missions, all the original instruments had been replaced, and the new replacements all had corrective optics, rendering COSTAR unnecessary.

[@RadioTaters]

NEW DEEP SKY VIDEOS AAAAAAAA

[@ChickenHawk110]

Dr Gray's CV says that she has had actual eyepiece time with Hubble in 2004. Sooo jelly!!

[@VascoElbrecht]

very interesting, i did not know that it was a failure for the first few years ^^

[@spouby1]

inspiring

[@bigboam]

I'm curious to know how an astronomer gets working time on the Hubble. I assume there's an administrative process to apply for a turn to take the pictures one wants? Maybe you could do a video on that involving Dr. Gray.

[@billysgeo]

They should GET ON WITH IT AND GET IT UP THERE!!! :-)

[@SeraphimKnight]

Are you planning on doing something on the James Webb space telescope?

[@robertbackhaus8911]

The tech on the ground - adaptive optics and suchlike - has reduced the need for a space telescope in the visual. We can cancel out the atmospheric interference to get images that rival or even surpass what Hubble can do. What we do need in space is telescopes that sense wavelengths that get absorbed by the atmosphere. Despite all this, webb will produce enough pretty pictures to pay for itself many times over.

[@ArtypNk]

I like Meghan. I could listen to her talk for hours.

[@Shpongl3]

So I know Hubble will be decommissioned soon and we got the Chandra, Webb (in a few years) etc , which shoot in different wavelengths though. My question is the following: is the Webb telescope going to be a worthy replacement of Hubble in the visible spectrum or we just dont care about that anymore?

[@krumble104]

It'll be a sad day when its shut down but there is JWST to look forward to.

[@glemmstengal]

She is really good at pronouncing those T's!

[@ConsciousAtoms]

I agree wholeheartedly, but it probably will not happen. There once were plans to bring hubble back down with one of the last space shuttle missions. Space shuttle was the only spacecraft designed to not only launch satellites but bring them back down as well. However, after the Columbia accident the risks were deemed too great. If an empty shuttle can burn up in the atmosphere, the risks of it burning up while carrying 20 tons of cargo are much greater.

[@Ruminations09]

When I first read this comment, I was thinking: HEY WE PRONOUNCE IT AS T. Then I said the sentence out loud and realized you are right. Its just a bit easier to pronounce it as a d. Although we don't do it for all words, like it for example. I guess it just depends on what letters come after it.

[@maujo2009]

What type of orbital telescope will substitute Hubble when its time for retiring is due? Thanks.

[@regpollock313]

I remember hearing that they were working on software which would clarify the vision from the atmosphere. ( on land based telescopes ) To be able to get images even clearer than Hubble. Was I dreaming?

[@teavea10]

I'd love to know exactly how the Hubble mirror got polished wrong and testing missed it, and how did they figure out how to fix it. Was it designed to allow for a correcting lens or lenses?

[@amarmirza08]

4:00, nerd equivalent of the super bowl lol (I would love to be there myself)

[@hannahbis420]

Is this another one of Bradys channels?

[@stonedogre]

yes.

[@sarcleaeolist]

Wo! Send along some congratulations to the new Doctor would you? Once he recovers from the defense, I've heard those things can virtually vivisect the mind.

[@ThomasRelaX]

Is that a newer/improved model of a Deep Space Telescope?

[@DeepSkyVideos]

I don't think that will happen. Nice thought though.

[@EduEnYT]

Brady, you should do a video asking Dr. Gray what she thinks about being the crush of the internets

[@Ruminations09]

What area of North America? Like England, America just has one accent to foreigners, but if you live here, there are several: east coast, west coast, mid west, New York, southern, and the different accents of Canada. She sounded Canadian to me

[@NLdefqon]

the James webb telescope is one off the replacement for Hubble, I think the have plans for more than only that one

[@BuzzKillingtonTV]

When is the james webb telescope coming?

[@runingblackbear]

someone tell me why I seen video and on the internet I cant find a hook up to watch it

[@klsdfjh23]

Happy scientists make me happy :3

[@Ace0077]

24th April 1990 is my birthday too and I love astronomy, coincidence? :)

[@alfiestoppani]

You should follow this up with a video about the James Webb telescope, Brady.

[@harlowsolid]

Every time I see Dr. Gray's wedding ring I die a little inside.

[@totoritko]

"how the Hubble mirror got polished wrong and testing missed it" The testing instruments were badly calibrated and due to time pressure, the mistake went unnoticed through several steps of independent testing. In essence, it was a string of human errors. "Was it designed to allow for a correcting lens or lenses?" No, they had to remove one instrument (the High Speed Photometer) to put the correcting lenses in the optical path. See the wikipedia entry on Hubble, it has all the details.

[@alternatingcurrent23]

In terms of its data and how its images connected with so many people, the HST is possibly the greatest single collection of 20th century technology lofted into space. It will certainly be a significant historical artifact. Simply deorbiting it is a major anthropological loss. I'd like to see a joint NASA/ESA/SpaceX/etc venture to retrieve it. The 26k people who signed the Death Star petition should already be campaigning for this. I'm not down with the DS but I'd be happy to save the HST.

[@Anchor9Studios]

Where is that place at 1:04 it looks so beautiful

[@dontquestionmyname5490]

It is on Earth

[@PsRohrbaugh]

9 years ago "shut down in the next couple of years"... Fingers crossed... Maybe we'll actually be able to fix it again at some point

[@Midorikonokami]

Me at the last two sentences: Noooo, Hubble! ;v; .. Can't we ... not shut it down? Please? *tries to Puppy Eye Science*

[@TheRantingBrit]

She's Canadian, according to her profile on the SixtySymbols website.

[@BrabusTKR]

yes, the james webb

[@Goddamnitj]

Are there any plans for a better replacement?

[@Weirdgus]

Aren't they getting ready to launch a new telescope soon, one that will replace Hubble ? Also I think no matter what they do, we don't have the technology to make the old Hubble successfully survive a re-entry in the atmosphere, the only option would be to bring it down to the same way it came up, taking it apart piece by piece and then transporting it, however this does seem like a huge waste of money/resources for virtually no benefit at all, aside from a nice future museum piece :)

[@oldi184]

VLT with adaptive optics can produce images more sharp than HST.

[@VascoElbrecht]

haha ^^thats funny. you sure have a good eye = ) y it was in the end of the video. thanks

[@jukimv1986]

Will it be replaced soon?

[@tonynguyen135]

there need to be a biology channel along with numberphile, psyfile, periodicvideos and deepskyvideos