What's next after Hubble?

[weeman]

<p>Amazingly, the Hubble is still going! However, I have heard that missions to repair it are coming to a close. I have heard of a future world observatory that might replace Hubble. An observatory that is larger, which will be able to see farther in to space, and further back in time. </p><p>I was just curious, are there any plans that are set in stone right now&nbsp;for a telescope to replace Hubble? </p> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><strong><font color="#ff0000">Techies: We do it in the dark. </font></strong></p><p><font color="#0000ff"><strong>"Put your hand on a stove for a minute and it seems like an hour. Sit with that special girl for an hour and it seems like a minute. That's relativity.</strong><strong>" -Albert Einstein </strong></font></p> </div>

 

[Smersh]

<p>I believe the plan is still underway to eventually replace Hubble with the <strong>James Webb Space Telescope.</strong></p><p>In the meantime though, it was announced a few weeks ago that the present HST would be upgraded to become 90 times more powerful:</p><h2 class="inline"><font size="2">Upgraded Hubble telescope to be 90 times as powerful</font></h2><p>&nbsp;</p> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <h1 style="margin:0pt;font-size:12px">----------------------------------------------------- </h1><p><font color="#800000"><em>Lady Nancy Astor: "Winston, if you were my husband, I'd poison your tea."<br />Churchill: "Nancy, if you were my wife, I'd drink it."</em></font></p><p><font color="#0000ff"><strong>Website / forums </strong></font></p> </div>

 

[PistolPete]

<p><BR/>Replying to:<BR/><DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'><font color="#008000">I believe the plan is still underway to eventually replace Hubble with the James Webb Space Telescope.In the meantime though, it was announced a few weeks ago that the present HST would be upgraded to become 90 times more powerful:Upgraded Hubble telescope to be 90 times as powerful&nbsp; <br /> Posted by smersh</font></DIV></p><p>Where I live, the local amateur astronomers and colleges have a get together called *Tri*Star*.&nbsp; This year we were fortunate to have Heidi Hammel as our keynote speaker.&nbsp; Heidi is one of the scientists that regularly work with Hubble and was in charge of the Hubble team when Shoemaker-Levy 9 impacted Jupiter.&nbsp; She is currently on the team that is developing the JWST and one of her lectures was on the progress of the telescope.&nbsp; According to her everything is in good shape, with no predicted funding problems, and is set to launch sometime around 2015. </p> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><em>So, again we are defeated. This victory belongs to the farmers, not us.</em></p><p><strong>-Kambei Shimada from the movie Seven Samurai</strong></p> </div>

 

[Smersh]

<p><strong>Where I live, the local amateur astronomers and colleges have a get together called *Tri*Star*.&nbsp; This year we were fortunate to have Heidi Hammel as our keynote speaker.&nbsp; Heidi is one of the scientists that regularly work with Hubble and was in charge of the Hubble team when Shoemaker-Levy 9 impacted Jupiter.&nbsp; She is currently on the team that is developing the JWST and one of her lectures was on the progress of the telescope.&nbsp; According to her everything is in good shape, with no predicted funding problems, and is set to launch sometime around 2015. <br /> Posted by PistolPete</strong></p><p>I would imagine that was a very interesting presentation she gave PP. I myself attended something similar a couple of years ago at my local astronomy society, when a presentation was given by Prof Fred Taylor of ESA, on the Venus Express mission.</p><p>Going back to the JWST, does that information that Heidi gave about the launch being in 2015, supercede what is said on the NASA link I gave in my previous post? On there it still says the launch is scheduled for for 2013.&nbsp;</p><p>Something I didn't realise about the JWST is that, according to the same NASA link, it "will reside in an orbit about 1.5 million km (1 million miles) from the Earth."&nbsp; </p> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <h1 style="margin:0pt;font-size:12px">----------------------------------------------------- </h1><p><font color="#800000"><em>Lady Nancy Astor: "Winston, if you were my husband, I'd poison your tea."<br />Churchill: "Nancy, if you were my wife, I'd drink it."</em></font></p><p><font color="#0000ff"><strong>Website / forums </strong></font></p> </div>

 

[cosmictraveler]

<p><BR/>Replying to:<BR/><DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>Amazingly, the Hubble is still going! However, I have heard that missions to repair it are coming to a close. I have heard of a future world observatory that might replace Hubble. An observatory that is larger, which will be able to see farther in to space, and further back in time. I was just curious, are there any plans that are set in stone right now&nbsp;for a telescope to replace Hubble? <br />Posted by weeman</DIV></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p><font size="4">The OWL Telescope</font></p><p><font size="4">www.eso.org/projects/owl/Gallery.html</font></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>The diameter of a telescope is its key performance characteristic. A larger telescope will collect more light, in proportion to its collecting area hence to the square of its diameter, and concentrate it in images whose sharpness (or resolution) is also proportional to the diameter. In brief, a telescope of 100-m will collect 100 times more light than a 10-m one, and have an angular resolution 10 times better. </p><p>http://www.eso.org/projects/owl/FAQs.html</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p>It does not require many words to speak the truth. Chief Joseph</p> </div>

 

[weeman]

Replying to:<BR/><DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>I believe the plan is still underway to eventually replace Hubble with the James Webb Space Telescope.In the meantime though, it was announced a few weeks ago that the present HST would be upgraded to become 90 times more powerful:Upgraded Hubble telescope to be 90 times as powerful&nbsp; <br />Posted by smersh</DIV><br /><br />Thank you for the link, smersh <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><strong><font color="#ff0000">Techies: We do it in the dark. </font></strong></p><p><font color="#0000ff"><strong>"Put your hand on a stove for a minute and it seems like an hour. Sit with that special girl for an hour and it seems like a minute. That's relativity.</strong><strong>" -Albert Einstein </strong></font></p> </div>

 

[PistolPete]

<p><BR/>Replying to:<BR/><DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>Where I live, the local amateur astronomers and colleges have a get together called *Tri*Star*.&nbsp; This year we were fortunate to have Heidi Hammel as our keynote speaker.&nbsp; Heidi is one of the scientists that regularly work with Hubble and was in charge of the Hubble team when Shoemaker-Levy 9 impacted Jupiter.&nbsp; She is currently on the team that is developing the JWST and one of her lectures was on the progress of the telescope.&nbsp; According to her everything is in good shape, with no predicted funding problems, and is set to launch sometime around 2015. Posted by PistolPeteI would imagine that was a very interesting presentation she gave PP. I myself attended something similar a couple of years ago at my local astronomy society, when a presentation was given by Prof Fred Taylor of ESA, on the Venus Express mission.Going back to the JWST, does that information that Heidi gave about the launch being in 2015, supercede what is said on the NASA link I gave in my previous post? On there it still says the launch is scheduled for for 2013.&nbsp;Something I didn't realise about the JWST is that, according to the same NASA link, it "will reside in an orbit about 1.5 million km (1 million miles) from the Earth."&nbsp; <br /> Posted by smersh</DIV></p><p>I checked back through my notes and it seem I may have mis-remembered it.&nbsp; It appears that she mentioned something about 2013.</p><p>As for the 1.5 million km, yes, it is going to be stationed at the L2 LaGrange point (aka, the LaGrange point opposite of the Sun and the Earth in the Earth's shadow.&nbsp; Actually, to be precise it will orbit <em>around</em> L2 putting it into periods of light and dark to allow its solar panels to recharge the batteries. </p> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><em>So, again we are defeated. This victory belongs to the farmers, not us.</em></p><p><strong>-Kambei Shimada from the movie Seven Samurai</strong></p> </div>