Light show. (Science Times).The Hubble Space Telescope Hubble Space Telescope (HST), the first large optical orbiting observatory. Built from 1978 to 1990 at a cost of $1.5 billion, the HST (named for astronomer E. P. Hubble) was expected to provide the clearest view yet obtained of the universe. brought deep space into focus like never before. Now NASA NASA: see National Aeronautics and Space Administration. NASA in full National Aeronautics and Space Administration Independent U.S. is planning a fitting encore: a device so powerful it may detect some of the "first light" of the universe. The James Webb Space Telescope This article or section documents a scheduled or expected spaceflight. Details may change as the launch date approaches or more information becomes available. , to be launched in 2010 at a cost of about $1.2 billion, will have a mirror with a light-gathering area six times as large as the Hubble's and a suite of more sensitive instruments. It will be sent into orbit far from Earth, and should be able to detect and analyze the faint, warm light produced when the first stars and galaxies formed a few hundred million years after the Big Bang big bang Model of the origin of the universe, which holds that it emerged from a state of extremely high temperature and density in an explosive expansion 10 billion–15 billion years ago. , the theoretical beginning of the universe, some 14 billion years ago. |
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