Tuesday, July 06, 2021

Telescope

The Hubble isn't working !!!!

....and hasn't for the last few weeks. 

Oddly, as I have nothing to do with it, this is distressing to me. 

Besides the astronomy perspective and the ability to gaze at things 400 million  years AFTER the universe the big bang, it was just the science of it all. 

Seeing black holes, seeing light from stars that no longer exist, seeing out out out and out - and still not near the edge of the universe, just can't be countered (intelligently) by religious folks who insist the Earth has existed for ~6,000 years. 

Almost a month ago, the telescope stopped working. NASA engineers have not yet been able to fix the computers from afar - and there are no more shuttles to send up to fix this. It's not to say that engineers have, or will, stop working, it's just so far that it hasn't worked. 

While I hate to see the end of this reach into the cosmos end this way, there is {allegedly} a new, better telescope coming our way.   ..........and so far only 11 years behind schedule. It is supposed to be launched later this year.

Here is me, not holding my breath. {no actual image}

But "the Webb" (or JWST) will be put into a different orbit - and looking at different things. It's also put into such an orbit that if things go wrong, there is no one going after it to retrieve it, let alone fix it.

Hubble was launched 31 years ago.  One would assume the JWST would have to have more advanced technology and could see better things - but that's what we'll all wait to see. I mean, I hope with an 11 year delay (so far), they've kept up with changing technology and they're not still using Alta Vista or Netscape as their browsers. 

Of course, the ideal would be to launch the JWST and have it do its thing, but for the Hubble to be restored back to life - and let both keep searching for things.  I mean, the Voyager 2 is almost 44 years old and still plugging away. 

Here's hoping for a fix.



Song by: Mindy Smith

2 comments:

James Dwight Williamson said...

Things that are important , that get off track. I hope they can fix it as well.

The Cool Cookie said...

Gawd - it went up when I was 27. Just lead me to the nearest old people's home.