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Hubble
Dec 6, 2006 18:17:08 GMT -5
Post by John Parry on Dec 6, 2006 18:17:08 GMT -5
Anyone checked out the latest composites of the Orion nebula? That's the ultimate camera!! We have problems with the planets and stars because of the earth's rotation. Hubble is going round the earth in 97 minutes, What kind of continuous compensation are they applying there?
Nasa have just announced they are going to build a moonbase by 2020. I'm going to volunteer. Presumably they will want to monitor the effects of the environment on all the people there. So, theyre going to need some Senior Citizen type people to monitor!
Regards - John
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Hubble
Dec 6, 2006 20:55:41 GMT -5
Post by aceroadholder on Dec 6, 2006 20:55:41 GMT -5
Once to pointed to the target, the telescope is set to rotate in 97 minutes on an axis parallel to the earth's axis so that as Hubble orbits the earth it stays pointed on the target. I would assume that the onboard computer picks a light source in the image and then sends trim commands to the gyros to keep the telescope accurately trained (or there is an auxillary wide angle scope used for this purpose as well as target aquisition). An earth bound telescope is set to rotate in 24 hours. For photographic work the image is held steady by computer contol or manually trimmed. Just think: One of the greatest optical telescopes ever built has a defectively ground mirror.... ooops! Thank goodness for a corrective lens! If NASA hadn't argeed to send an upkeep/repair/upgrade mission to Hubbel last month, I think the NASA administrators would have been ridden out of town on a rail.
Orlin in SC/USA
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