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April 27, 2005
The Hubble space telescope has been in orbit for 15 years, during which time it has taken over 750,000 images of the universe. To celebrate, NASA has released two new pictures. One is of the Whirlpool Galaxy, with a smaller, companion galaxy on one of its arms.
An image of spiral galaxy M51 (NGC5194), the Whirlpool Galaxy, taken by the Hubble Space Telescope
Servicing Mission 4, the last scheduled flight of the space shuttle to the Hubble Space Telescope, has been cancelled. Hubble is going to end soon. Of the six gyroscopes the spacecraft carries to enable it to focus on a fixed point in the sky, three have shut down. Hubble can continue to perform its mission with the three remaining units, but if one more gyroscope fails, it will lose its ability to maintain the quality of its images.
Hubble Space Telescope Keyhole Nebula
There is no immediate replacement for Hubble.
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