VOICE ONE:
This is Mary Tillotson.
VOICE TWO:
And this is Steve Ember with the VOA Special English programEXPLORATIONS.
Last week, the National Aeronautics and Space Administrationreleased four new pictures. They were taken by the Hubble SpaceTelescope’s new Advanced Camera for Surveys. Today we tell about thephotographs the camera took and the excitement they have causedamong scientists who study the universe.
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VOICE ONE:
Holland Ford is a scientist at Johns Hopkins University, inBaltimore, Maryland. He is also the leading scientist for HubbleSpace Telescope’s new Advanced Camera for Surveys known as A-S-C.
The new camera was expected to give the Hubble telescope tentimes more power than the older camera on Hubble. NASA scientistssay the new camera is much better than expected.
Mister Ford said he and his team of scientists were shocked andsurprised by Hubble’s increased power. He said the new camera islike having a new window that permits us to see the universe. Hesaid this new window is very large and extremely clear. Mister Fordsaid, “We can now see galaxy after galaxy.”
VOICE TWO:
NASA released four photographs taken by the space telescope. Oneof the photographs shows the Omega Nebula. There are hundreds ofstars in this Nebula, surrounded by clouds of cold, dark hydrogen.Omega is also called the Swan Nebula and is about five-thousand-fivehundred light years away from Earth in the constellationSagittarius.
A photograph of the Cone Nebulawas also released. It is a beautiful red color. It shows a tallstructure made of gas and dust with many bright stars near the top.Another photograph shows two small galaxies named the Mice. They arethree hundred million light years away from Earth. They seem to bechasing each other. However, they are about to crash together.
VOICE ONE:
Perhaps the most exciting picture shows a galaxyfour-hundred-twenty-million light-years from Earth. The galaxy iscalled the Tadpole. The Tadpole is a group of stars that seems to bespinning in space, surrounded by clouds of gas. It has a long tailof stars that follow behind it. The galaxy is shaped like a tadpole,which is a small, developing toad or frog with a big head and longtail. NASA says the galaxy has this unusual shape because it isreally two galaxies that crashed into each other millions of yearsago.
The photograph of the TadpoleGalaxy is extremely beautiful. Mister Ford was quick to say that thephotographs were much more than just pretty pictures. He said thenew photographs taken by the A-S-C of the Tadpole show aboutsix-thousand other galaxies behind it. This is about two times asmany as could be seen by Hubble’s earlier camera. Hubble firstphotographed the Tadpole Galaxy in nineteen-ninety-five.
Mister Ford said some the galaxies behind the Tadpole are morethan ten-thousand-million light years from Earth. He said this isalmost at the edge of the universe that we can observe. He also saidnew photographs provide huge amounts of new and valuableinformation.
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NASA says the new Advanced Camera for Surveys has such greatpower because it is able to gather very small amounts of light thatcome from extreme distances. This amount of light is so small thatit can not be seen by the human eye. The A-S-C takes photographs bygathering these small amounts of light for several hours at a time.It can then produce a photograph from all the light that has beengathered.
The A-C-S carries equipment that can control light that entersthe camera. It does this by placing different pieces of glass infront of the eye of the camera.
The A-S-C can take photographs of a much larger area than theearlier camera. This will let space scientists see much larger areasof the universe.
The new camera records what it sees in electronic informationcalled megapixels. This is similar to the electronic informationrecorded by electronic or digital cameras that anyone can buy.
The more magapixels a camera has the better the quality of thephotograph. Most digital cameras that can be bought today in aphotography store use two to four magapixels to record a picture.Hubble’s new camera records with sixteen million magapixels. Thismeans the A-S-C photographs show sharp details of objects fartheraway than have been seen before.
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Astronomers say the new A-S-C will make it possible to look sofar back in time that they can study how stars and galaxies appearedas they were forming. It will also let astronomers study how thesegalaxies have changed through time.
Astronomers also hope to use the new Advanced Camera for Surveysto make maps of galaxies. These maps will show how differentgalaxies develop and are held together. They will help researchersbetter understand how the universe is expanding. The maps also willpermit astronomers to search areas near distant stars for planetsthat are similar to Earth.
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The new Advanced Camera for Surveys is just one of many devicesthat were repaired or placed in the space telescope in March. Thework was done by the crew of the Space Shuttle Colombia.
The Hubble Space Telescope is the first scientific instrumentever designed to be repaired and rebuilt by astronauts who work inspace. Ninety percent of its parts can be repaired or replaced byspace shuttle astronauts.
Besides the A-S-C, the space telescope also received newequipment so it can make electric power from sunlight. Radiation andsmall space objects had damaged the old power supply equipment.
The new equipment looks like large wings. The wings are calledsolar arrays. The new solar arrays are smaller than the ones theyreplaced, but they produce twenty-seven percent more power.
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Hubble’s electric power control device also was replaced. It nowlets the telescope use all of the increased power provided by thenew solar arrays.
Astronauts repaired an instrument called the Near Infrared Cameraand Multi-Object Spectrometer. They replaced the cooling system thatthe camera needed to operate. A NASA spokesman says the new coolingsystem is working well. They hope to release the first photographsfrom this camera in June.
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The space shuttle crew also successfully repaired Hubble’scommunications system and its computers. NASA says the only repairproblem that remains involves the devices that are used to point thetelescope at distant objects.
The Hubble’s pointing system is extremely important. It is usedto find and lock the telescope on objects so they can be studied.The pointing system has a small computer that looks for any movementor mistakes forty times a second. If movement occurs, spinningwheels change speeds to bring the telescope back into the correctposition.
NASA says the pointing system may have a shorter working lifethan expected. Experts say it could fail because it uses moreelectricity than it should. A second device can be used if the firstone fails.
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The Hubble Space Telescope is an eye in space that lets peoplearound the world see pictures of the distant universe. It orbitssix-hundred kilometers above the Earth.
The telescope works twenty-four hours a day, seven days a weekhelping astronomers unlock the secrets of the universe. It providesinformation and photographs of distant parts of the universe thatcannot be seen from Earth because of clouds or atmosphericconditions.
The Hubble Space Telescope has provided thousands of photographsof distant objects in the universe. Many of these objects aremillions of light years away from Earth. The space telescope hasprovided evidence of the birth of stars and their deaths.
A NASA official says the space telescope has provided twelveyears of great science and wonderful pictures. Yet, he said, the newcamera has already shown us that what we will see in the future willbe even more exciting.
VOICE TWO:
If you have a computer that can link with the Internet, you cansee several thousand photographs taken by the Hubble SpaceTelescope. The four new ones taken by the Advanced Camera forSurveys are among them.
Have your computer search for the word Hubble. That isH-U-B-B-L-E. Your computer will provide several Web sites that willpermit you to see millions of kilometers into our universe.
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VOICE ONE:
This Special English program was written by Paul Thompson. It wasproduced by Cynthia Kirk. Our studio engineer was Darryl Smith. Thisis Mary Tillotson.
VOICE TWO:
And this is Steve Ember. Join us again next week for anotherEXPLORATIONS program on the Voice of America.