Hubble’s New Miracle Camera

Hubblecast Episode 40: Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) – Hubble’s New Miracle Camera In early 2009, a team of astronauts visited Hubble to repair the wear and tear of twenty years of operating in a hostile environment – and to install two new instruments, the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph, and Wide Field Camera 3 – better known as WFC3. — Please subscribe to Science & Reason: • www.youtube.com • www.youtube.com • www.youtube.com • www.youtube.com — Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) is a combined ultraviolet, visible and infrared camera that dramatically extends Hubble’s ability to image astronomical objects. With these new capabilities, Hubble is still pushing the boundaries of science after two decades in orbit. In episode 30 of the Hubblecast, we saw some of the very first pictures to come back from Wide Field Camera 3, Hubble’s newest and most advanced instrument. Today we’re going to look at some of the science behind these pictures. We’ll find out how this remarkable new camera is helping Hubble to see the invisible, look far back in time and spot objects further away from us than ever before. WFC3 was installed on Hubble in place of WFPC2, the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2, which for many years had been the main workhorse instrument on Hubble. Not only do the two instruments have very similar names, and look virtually identical, the capabilities of WFC3 are also in some respects just a tweaked version of those of its predecessor — although with sharper pictures and more …

James Webb Space Telescope Mission Movie Trailer

James Webb Space Telescope Mission Movie Trailer The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) will be a large infrared telescope with a 6.5-meter primary mirror. Launch is planned for 2014. The Webb Telescope will be the premier observatory of the next decade, serving thousands of astronomers worldwide. It will study every phase in the history of our Universe, ranging from the first luminous glows after the Big Bang, to the formation of solar systems capable of supporting life on planets like Earth, to the evolution of our own Solar System. Formerly known as the “Next Generation Space Telescope” (NGST) and considered the successor to the Hubble Space Telescope, the telescope was renamed in Sept. 2002 after former NASA administrator, James Webb. For more information about the Webb Telescope go to: www.jwst.nasa.gov

Hubble’s Eye on the Universe HD

JPL’s camera aboard Hubble has taken some of the space telescope’s most memorable images. The camera will be removed and brought back to Earth during a Hubble servicing mission. James Webb Space Telescope Mission Trailer HD- www.youtube.com The Known Universe HD- www.youtube.com

Future Space Telescope Tours Earth

A full-scale model of the James Webb Space Telescope, the planned successor to Hubble, is on the circuit — making appearances at science conferences and festivals around the world. Science Friday visited the observatory and spoke to its handlers who were in town for the World Science Festival in New York City’s Battery Park. Viewed 6569 times.

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Rainwater Observatory is a world class observatory located in the small town of French Camp, MS. When I visited there I was shocked to find out they didn’t have any type of promotional videos on the internet. They believe science supports faith, just as I do. The directors were kind enough to stay late and allow me to create a shoot this footage so I could make a short film for them. There’s lots of time lapse footage, as well as images taken from their Sangre telescope. Call them to set up a tour! We looked at the moon when I was there. In my experience Faith supports science, and vice versa. “The Heavens Declare the Glory of God”. Pennywhistle Productions

Earth-like Planets HD (29/4/2010)

James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), Part 2/2 – Finding earth-like (extrasolar) planets. — Please subscribe to Science & Reason: • www.youtube.com • www.youtube.com • www.youtube.com • www.youtube.com — The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is a large, infrared-optimized space telescope, scheduled for launch in 2014. JWST will find the first galaxies that formed in the early Universe, connecting the Big Bang to our own Milky Way Galaxy. JWST will peer through dusty clouds to see stars forming planetary systems, connecting the Milky Way to our own Solar System. JWST’s instruments will be designed to work primarily in the infrared range of the electromagnetic spectrum, with some capability in the visible range. JWST will have a large mirror, 6.5 meters (21.3 feet) in diameter and a sunshield the size of a tennis court. Both the mirror and sunshade won’t fit onto the rocket fully open, so both will fold up and open once JWST is in outer space. JWST will reside in an orbit about 1.5 million km (1 million miles) from the Earth. • www.jwst.nasa.gov The Universe: Another Earth HD- www.youtube.com ‘Earths are common,’ NASA scientist says- www.thestar.com CNN: Galaxy May be Full of ‘Earths,’ Alien life – www.cnn.com Earth-like Planet Discoveries on the Horizon (8/1/2010)- www.digitaljournal.com Earth’s Twin Planet Will Be Found By The End Of The Year, leading Astronomer says (26/1/2010)- www.dailymail.co.uk Looking for Alien Earths? Here they come- www.youtube.com The Search for …

Rainwater Observatory

Rainwater Observatory is a world class observatory located in the small town of French Camp, MS. When I visited there I was shocked to find out they didn’t have any type of promotional videos on the internet. They believe science supports faith, just as I do. The directors were kind enough to stay late and allow me to create a shoot this footage so I could make a short film for them. There’s lots of time lapse footage, as well as images taken from their Sangre telescope. Call them to set up a tour! We looked at the moon when I was there. In my experience Faith supports science, and vice versa. www.rainwaterobservatory.org “The Heavens Declare the Glory of God”. Pennywhistle Productions

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“Of all the sciences cultivated by mankind, Astronomy is acknowledged to be, and undoubtedly is, the most sublime, the most interesting, and the most useful. For, by knowledge derived from this science, not only the bulk of the Earth is discovered …; but our very faculties are enlarged with the grandeur of the ideas it conveys, our minds exalted above [their] low contracted prejudices.” –James Ferguson, “Astronomy Explained Upon Sir Isaac Newtons Principles, And Made Easy To Those Who Have Not Studied Mathematics” (1757) — Subscribe to Science & Reason: • www.youtube.com • www.youtube.com • www.youtube.com — The Cosmic Perspective Long before anyone knew that the universe had a beginning, before we knew that the nearest large galaxy lies two and a half million light-years from Earth, before we knew how stars work or whether atoms exist, James Ferguson’s enthusiastic introduction to his favorite science rang true. Yet his words, apart from their eighteenth-century flourish, could have been written yesterday. But who gets to think that way? Who gets to celebrate this cosmic view of life? Not the migrant farmworker. Not the sweatshop worker. Certainly not the homeless person rummaging through the trash for food. You need the luxury of time not spent on mere survival. You need to live in a nation whose government values the search to understand humanity’s place in the universe. You need a society in which intellectual pursuit can take you to the frontiers of discovery …

The Earliest Stars And Galaxies In The Universe

Science@ESA (Episode 4): Following The Redshift (Part 1) – The Earliest Stars and Galaxies In The Universe. From HST (Hubble Space Telescope) to JWST (James Webb Space Telescope). In this fourth episode of the Science@ESA vodcast series Rebecca Barnes will identify some of the key discoveries achieved with the famous Hubble Space Telescope, look at the concept of redshift, and meet a new telescope that will be used to uncover the early Universe. — • www.youtube.com • www.youtube.com — ‘Redshift’ is a key concept for astronomers. The term can be understood literally – the wavelength of the light is stretched, so the light is seen as ‘shifted’ towards the red part of the spectrum. Something similar happens to sound waves when a source of sound moves relative to an observer. This effect is called the ‘Doppler effect’ after Christian Andreas Doppler, an Austrian mathematician who discovered that the frequency of sound waves changes if the source of sound and the observer are moving relative to each other. If the two are approaching, then the frequency heard by the observer is higher; if they move away from each other, the frequency heard is lower. There are many everyday examples of the Doppler effect – the changing pitch of police and ambulance sirens, or train whistles and racing car engines as they pass by. In every case, there is an audible change in pitch as the source approaches and then passes an observer. Everyone has heard the increased pitch of an approaching …

Hubble’s Successor: The James Webb Space Telescope