Eye to the Cosmos -Hubble's Successor

The Hubble Telescope has been patrolling the skies above earth for nearly 16 years. Named after the renowned astronomer Edwin Hubble, it has brought us some of the most majestic and spectacular photos the human eye has ever seen. Images of our own blue globe to photographs of far flung galaxies and stars have captured the imagination of an entire generation.

Recently though, NASA announced that they are in the process of replacing the ageing workhorse, with the James Webb Space Telescope. A model of the JWST has been put on show outside the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in the US capital, Washington DC, following it’s unveiling at the American Astronomical Society meeting in Seattle earlier this month.

"Clearly we need a much bigger telescope to go back much further in time to see the very birth of the Universe," said Edward Weiler, who heads the Goddard Space Flight Center, and is tasked with overseeing the construction of the new space telescope.

The JWST is planned to be launched and in orbit of earth in 2013, providing the ability to “…peer back nearly 13 billion years in time to understand the evolution of our own solar system and the formation of galaxies, stars and planets.”

The Hubble telescope will receive one final visit from the Shuttle Atlantis in September of 2008. After several years of public outcry towards the possible scrapping of Hubble, NASA’s newest administrator Mike Griffin approved the Atlantis’ flight to bring much needed equipment and repair to the grandfather of the skies. Tasked with installing two new science instruments, batteries and gyroscopes, the Atlantis crew will subsequently present Hubble with the ability to provide earth with scientific observations until its predicted return to earth in 2025.

Expected to have a 10 year lifespan, the JWST will have a hard act to follow. Posted by Josh Hill.

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