There's battle lines being drawn.
Nobody's right if everybody's wrong.
Young people speaking their minds
getting so much resistance from behind

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Hail Atlantis!

Way up next to the Hubble, where I wanna be, she may be.

In case you have no idea what I'm talking about, go read. And before the gnashing of teeth happens five years from now, we installed the last of the parts we had for the Hubble. Even if we have a launch vehicle to go repair her, this is our last trip to Hubble. She's on borrowed time from here out. And, yes, there is a replacement planned. The Web may not make as spectacular images as the Hubble, but it will be a more scientific instrument.

So while we have both, hail Atlantis. Hail Hubble. Safe journey.

And since it's somewhat related, a video of galactic-core rise (groked from Jay Lake's link salad).

3 comments:

vince said...

Hubble has lasted far longer than its designers ever expected, and has added so much to our knowledge, not to mention unbelievable images. It's really amazing, especially given the flawed lens it started with.

It will be sad when it is gone. But until then, I agree. Hail Hubble! Hail Atlantis and crew!

Dan Berlyoung said...

You did see these amazing photos of the shuttle silhouetted against the sun, right?

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/05/pic-space-shuttle-crosses-the-sun/

Kinda shows you how small and insignificant we all are.

Steve Buchheit said...

Vince, oh yeah, I remember watching live (I think) as the first "corrected" images came in from Hubble and the wild cheering. After some time of the jokes about it being worthless and near-sighted. Even putting aside the actual science performed, just the PR and layman knowledge expansion from the images make Hubble more than worth it.

Hadn't seen those, Dan. Thanks. While they look like the Enterprise orbiting a planet, except for the ship being much much smaller, add in the parallax of the sun being 93,000,000 miles away, and the space shuttle is only 250 miles away. Just the angles are mind boggling.