Hubble's Aperture Door

[Woggles]

Hi everyone. I was just at NASA site and looking at the interactive feature section/Hubble 3D. I seen the aperture door and was wondering how often does the aperture door close? I can see it being closed for the past servicing missions but do they close the door for any other reason?

http://www.nasa.gov/externalflash/Hubble20/

 

[BurgerB75]

One reason:

"The most important of these is that the aperture door shown in Fig. 1 will close automatically whenever HST is pointed within 20 degrees of the Sun, in order to prevent direct sunlight from reaching the optics and focal plane."

From: http://www.pbs.org/deepspace/hubble/diagram.html

 

[silylene]

I thought it was closed a few times in the past when Hubble was predicted to pass through an especially rich thread of a meteor shower.

 

[BurgerB75]

I would think it might close if a big CME was headed our way as well but my brief Google search didn't turn up anything concrete.

 

[3488]

All of the above & also if Hubble goes into Safing, the door will also close.

Hubble BTW is never intentionally pointed less the 50 degrees from the Sun.

Andrew Brown.

 

[Woggles]

Thanks everyone!!