Browse Items (90 total)

Segmented mirrors, used in an array configuration, are used in large telescopes in place of a single curved mirror. The smaller sizes of these mirrors make them easier to transport, install and maintain than traditional single-mirror telescopes.

Space based telescopes revolutionized the study of astronomy. The first such telescope, the Hubble Space Telescope, dramatically improved the image resolution of land based telescopes. This image shows a land based telescope photo of Jupiter (black…

In addition to transmitting images down to Earth, Hubble also transmits system reports which enable engineers to identify faults which can be corrected with orbital servicing missions. Multiple satellites are needed to bounce Hubble’s transmissions…

Spacelab was a reusable science laboratory which flew on space shuttle missions between November 1983 and April 1998. Spacelab 3 launched aboard the Challenger on April 29, 1985, and included five specialists who spent a week conducting experiments…

From the moon landing to the International Space Station, scientists at the Marshall Space Flight Center have been at the forefront of research and development of space transport systems and related technologies. Their Saturn rockets were crucial to…

Daniel Kirkwood was an American mathematician who used mathematics to derive theories based on the work of astronomers. He was the first to suggest that meteor showers were composed of debris from comets. He also developed a theory known as…

Following military service in World War I, Edwin Hubble accepted a position at Mount Wilson Observatory. His discoveries there included proving that nebulae were galaxies rather than simple clouds of gas and dust. His greatest discovery was that all…

The first four satellites of Jupiter were discovered by Galileo in 1610. Edward Emerson Barnard discovered the fifth shortly after midnight on September 9, 1892. Fifth in order of discovery and third in distance from the planet, Amalthea was the last…

In the 1920s, astronomer Edwin Hubble corresponded with astronomer Edwin Emerson Barnard to seek his expert advice on stellar photography. This photograph of the spiral galaxy NGC 3596 in the constellation Leo was taken by Hubble on February 16,…

Frank McConnell and Edward Emerson Barnard were both founding members of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, founded in San Francisco in 1889 while Barnard was affiliated with the Lick Observatory. Barnard’s discovery of another moon of Jupiter,…