Hubble Space Telescope turns 20 today

Source: Hubblesite.orgSpace shuttle Discovery carried the legendary orbiting Hubble Telescope in its payload bay this day in 1990. Named after the famous astronomer, Edwin P Hubble, the Hubble Space telescope has revolutionized astronomy. This large observatory provides spectacular views for astronomers to study our Solar system as well as several other galaxies. Our knowledge of the Universe has greatly improved because of Hubble.
Did you know that the Hubble Space Telescope makes one orbit around the earth every 96 minutes with a speed of 8 km/sec or 5 miles/sec ?
To celebrate the 20th anniversary of Hubble's launch into space, the picture above taken between Feb 1 & 2, showing the image of a pillar of star birth, three light years high has been released. A mountain of dust and gas rising in the Carina Nebula. Cool hydrogen at the top of the three-light-year pillar is being worn away by the radiation of nearby  stars, and the stars within the pillar are seen emitting jets of gas that stream from the peaks.Recommended Reading :
Hubble Site

SPACE EXPLORERS!

NASA and astraunauts! Watch below Flight Engineers Jeff Williams and Maxim Suraev along with spaceflight participant Guy Laliberté have arrived at the International Space Station. They docked their Soyuz TMA-16 to the aft end of the Zvezda service module at 4:35 a.m. EDT Friday Oct. 2, 2009.



The newest station crew members entered the station after opening the hatches between the two spacecraft at 6:57 a.m. Friday, Oct. 2, 2009.


Suggested Reading:When Does The International Space Station Fly Over My Home?

HOW TO GET TWITTER ALERTS TO VIEW International Space Station OVERHEAD

International Space Station(ISS),my earlier post, talks of what the ISS is and how it can be viewed with the space station locater. My popular post entitled, When Does The International Space Station Fly Over My Home talks about your ability to view the ISS as it passes overhead without a telescope. NASA gives a realtime update for viewing all satellites according to your country and city, and Google Sky can be used for real time viewing. Yes, the internet has made it possible for us share information in order to view anything from any part of the world & get updates in real time. Educators around the world are guiding their students in viewing the ISS. And now a twitter application from Netherlands gives us twitter alerts based on our location,so as to enable us to be ready to view ISS as it passes overhead.

This is what you need to do:

1. Get a twitter account.
2. Enter your location (coordinates or text) in your profile.
3. Start following http://twitter.com/twisst
4. You will receive twitter alerts a few hours before in order to be able to view the International Space station as it passes overhead.

Recommended Reading: International Space Station(ISS)
When Does The International Space Station Fly Over My Home
Sunita Williams
Northern Lights On Earth As Seen From International Space Station

NEW YEAR GREETINGS FROM INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION

Astronauts in the space station wish the earth a Happy New Year 2009!!!



Recommended Reading: When will the International Space Station Fly Over My Home
International Space Station
A Walk Through Space

A WALK THROUGH SPACE

Nebula images here are as seen by the Hubble Telescope.Space is beautiful and engaging even when seen through a telescope.


Recommended Reading: Interactive Universe
Tonight's Sky
When Does The International Space Station Fly Over My Home

Northern Lights On Earth Seen From International Space Station

Astronaut Don Pettit created an astounding video using a sequence of still images he shot of the beautiful Aurora Borealis(Northern Lights) from the International Space Station.


NASA scientists explain the Northern Lights phenomenon in the following video.

Recommended Reading: International Space Station(ISS)
When Does The International Space Station Fly Over My Home
Northern Lights
Top 20 Northern Lights
Aurora Borealis

INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION(ISS)

The International Space Station is a home to astronauts while conducting experiments.The bbc website has an interactive tour of the ISS.You can know about life on the ISS and what science is conducted there that cannot be done here on earth. You can also know exactly when the ISS will fly over your home by viewing the space station locater.
Recommended Reading: When Does The International Space Station Fly Over My Home?
Sunita Williams
Sunita Williams On The International Space Station

WHEN DOES THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION FLY OVER YOUR HOME?

Students learn about the solar system and space. Many have questions about the satellites and the international space station(ISS). Learning is definitely easy and a lot more interesting information is gained looking up the bbc website.Tracking ISS over the world becomes easy and you can know when it passes overhead and can view it. NASA has made this possible. Real time data is given. Use the interactives to click on -An ISS Interactive Reference Guide shows how the crew lives, how ISS works, and a ISS 360 tour.
Teachers and educators can find excellent resources at NASA for educators. Students can find exhaustive resources at NASA for students. One can also learn about the night sky here. Google Sky is also a good tool to see the night sky over your home.
Learning through multimedia increases one's knowledge effortlessly.Choose topics on earth,solar system,space shuttles,universe and several related topics on NASA .