If you order your cheap essays from our custom writing service you will receive a perfectly written assignment on universe. What we need from you is to provide us with your detailed paper instructions for our experienced writers to follow all of your specific writing requirements. Specify your order details, state the exact number of pages required and our custom writing professionals will deliver the best quality universe paper right on time.
Our staff of freelance writers includes over 120 experts proficient in universe, therefore you can rest assured that your assignment will be handled by only top rated specialists. Order your universe paper at affordable prices with cheap essay writing service!
Not since Galileo turned his telescope towards the heavens in 1610 has any event so changed our understanding of the universe as the deployment of the Hubble Space Telescope. Hubble orbits 600 kilometers (75 miles) above Earth, working around the clock to unlock the secrets of the Universe. It uses excellent pointing precision, powerful optics, and state-of-the-art instruments to provide stunning views of the Universe that cannot be made using ground-based telescopes or other satellites. Hubble was originally designed in the 170s and launched in 10. Hubble is the first scientific mission of any kind that is specifically designed for routine servicing by spacewalking astronauts. It has a visionary, modular design which allows the astronauts to take it apart, replace worn out equipment and upgrade instruments. These periodic service calls make sure that Hubble produces first-class science using cutting-edge technology. Each time a science instrument in Hubble is replaced, it increases Hubble scientific power by a factor of 10 or greater. Every day, Hubble archives to 5 gigabytes of data and delivers between 10 and 15 gigabytes to astronomers all over the world.
The Hubble Space Telescopes science instruments are cameras, spectrographs, and fine guidance sensors work either together or individually to bring us stunning images from the farthest reaches of space. Each instrument was designed to observe the universe in a unique way. "The Wide Field and Planetary Camera is the workhorse instrument behind nearly all of the most famous Hubble pictures." (Ref.7) As Hubbles main camera, it is used to observe just about everything. WFPC is the telescopes main camera. It observes just about everything, recording razor-sharp images of faraway objects in relatively broad views. Its 48 filters allow scientists to study precise wavelengths of light and to sense a range of wavelengths from ultraviolet to near-infrared light. WFPC doesnt use film to record its images. Instead, four postage stamp-sized pieces of high-tech circuitry called Charge-Coupled Devices (CCDs) collect information from stars and galaxies to make photographs. These detectors are very sensitive to the extremely faint light of distant galaxies. They can see objects that are 1,000 million times fainter than the naked eye can see. "Less sensitive CCDs are now in some videocassette recorders and all of the new digital cameras." (Ref. ) CCDs are electronic circuits composed of light-sensitive picture elements (pixels), tiny cells that, placed together, resemble a screen-door mesh. Each of the four CCDs contains 640,000 pixels. The light collected by each pixel is translated into a number. These numbers "all ,560,000 of them" (Ref.) are sent to ground-based computers, which convert them into an image. The unique WFPC design results in the stair-step appearance of many of its images. The heart of WFPC is a trio of wide-field detectors and a high-resolution planetary camera. Although the planetary camera can see only a small region of the sky, by compacting the same number of pixels into a smaller area results in finer-detailed images. The difference between the wide-field detectors and the planetary camera is like the difference between a wide-angle lens and a telephoto lens.
The Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS) is Hubbles heat sensor. Its sensitivity to infrared light makes it useful for observing objects obscured by interstellar gas and dust for peering into deepest space. NICMOS allows astronomers to use Hubbles exquisite detail to open an important window of the electromagnetic spectrum. The instruments three cameras each with different fields of view are specially designed to see objects in the near-infrared wavelengths, which are slightly longer than the wavelengths of visible light "human eyes cannot see infrared light" (Ref. 5). Many secrets about the birth of stars, solar systems, and galaxies are revealed in infrared light, which can penetrate the interstellar gas and dust that block visible light. In addition, light from the most distant objects in the universe shifts into the infrared wavelengths. By studying objects and phenomena in this spectral region, astronomers probe our universes past, present, and future, learn how galaxies, stars, and planetary systems form, and reveal a great deal about our universes basic nature. As a camera for recording visible light must be dark inside to avoid exposure to unwanted light, a camera for recording infrared light must be cold inside to avoid exposure to unwanted light in the form of heat. To make sure that NICMOS is recording infrared light from space "as opposed to heat created by its own electronics" (Ref. 6), the sensitive infrared detectors in NICMOS must operate at very cold temperatures below 1 degrees Fahrenheit, or 77 degrees Kelvin. The instruments detectors used to be cooled inside a cryogenic dewar (a thermally insulated container much like a thermos bottle). When NICMOS was installed in 17, the dewar contained a 0-pound block of nitrogen ice. The dewar, which successfully cooled the detectors for about two years, ran out of coolant prematurely. NICMOS will be rechilled during Servicing Mission B with a cryocooler a machine that operates much like a household refrigerator.
The Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) is a versatile instrument that can act somewhat like a prism, separating light from the cosmos into its component colors. This provides a wavelength fingerprint of the object being observed, which tells us about its temperature, chemical composition, density, and motion. Spectrographic observations also reveal changes in celestial objects as the universe evolves. STIS spans ultraviolet, visible, and near-infrared wavelengths. Astronomers can use STIS to hunt for black holes. "The light emitted by stars and gas orbiting the center of a galaxy appears redder when moving away from us (redshift), and bluer when coming toward us (blueshift)" (Ref. 4). STIS is looking for redshifted material on one side of the suspected black hole and blueshifted material on the other, indicating that this material is orbiting an object at very high speeds. STIS can sample 500 points along a celestial object simultaneously. This means that many regions in a planets atmosphere or many stars within a galaxy can be recorded in one exposure, vastly improving Hubbles speed and efficiency.
Cheap Custom Essays on universe
The Faint Object Camera (FOC) records high-resolution images of faint celestial objects in deep space. The FOC has the sharpest vision of all the science instruments. It serves as Hubbles telephoto lens recording the most detailed images over a small field of view. The FOC was replaced with the Advanced Camera for Surveys in early 00. The FOCs resolution allows Hubble to single out individual stars in distant star clusters. Resolution is the ability to distinguish two points of light as separate and distinct. In space, the instrument can distinguish between objects that are 0.05 arcseconds apart which is roughly the width of a human hair viewed from a distance of 1 kilometer. The FOC directs light down one of two optical pathways. The light enters a detector after passing through one or more filters, which permit only specific wavelengths of light to pass through. By selecting very specific wavelength ranges, scientists can look for specific features, such as the hottest stars in a particular cluster. The detector intensifies the image and then records it, much like a video camera. Images of faint objects can be built up over long exposure times. The total image is converted into digital data, transmitted to Earth, and then reconstructed. Since FOC can make high-resolution observations of faint sources at ultraviolet and visible wavelengths, in can study star clusters, examine galaxies and faint objects (such as quasars), and look for small details of celestial objects. The FOC was built by the European Space Agency.
The Fine Guidance Sensors are targeting devices that lock onto guide stars and measure their positions relative to the object being viewed. Adjustments based on these precise readings keep Hubble pointed in the right direction. The sensors also are used to perform celestial measurements. Adjustments based on these constant, minute measurements keep Hubble pointed precisely in the right direction.
Hubble is, in principle, free to roll about its optical axis. This freedom is limited, however, by the need to keep sunlight shining on the solar arrays, and by a thermal design that assumes that the Sun always heats the same side of the telescope. Hubbles pointing control system uses the Fine Guidance Sensors to point the telescope at a target with an accuracy of 0.01 arcsec. The sensors detect when the telescope drifts even a miniscule amount and return it to its target. This gives Hubble the ability to remain pointed at that target with no more than 0.007 arcsec of deviation over long periods of time. The Fine Guidance Sensors can provide star positions that are about 10 times more precise than those observed from a ground-based telescope.
Although HST operates around the clock, not all of its time is spent observing. Each orbit lasts about 5 minutes, with time allocated for housekeeping functions and for observations. Housekeeping (Ref. 6) functions includes turning the telescope to acquire a new target, or avoid the Sun or Moon, switching communications antennas and data transmission modes, receiving command loads and downlinking data, calibrating and similar activities. When STScI completes its master observing plan, the schedule is forwarded to Goddards Space Telescope Operations Control Center (STOCC), where the science and housekeeping plans are merged into a detailed operations schedule. Each event is translated into a series of commands to be sent to the onboard computers. Computer loads are uplinked several times a day to keep the telescope operating efficiently. When possible two scientific instruments are used simultaneously to observe adjacent target regions of the sky. For example, while a spectrograph is focused on a chosen star or nebula, the WF/PC (pronounced wiff-pik) can image a sky region offset slightly from the main viewing target. During observations the Fine Guidance Sensors (FGS) track their respective guide stars to keep the telescope pointed steadily at the right target.
If an astronomer desires to be present during the observation, there is a console at STScI and another at the STOCC, where monitors display images or other data as the observations occurs. Some limited real-time commanding for target acquisition or filter changing is performed at these stations, if the observation program has been set up to allow for it, but spontaneous control is not possible. Engineering and scientific data from HST, as well as uplinked operational commands, are transmitted through the Tracking Data Relay Satellite (TDRS) system and its companion ground station at White Sands, New Mexico. Up to 4 hours of commands can be stored in the onboard computers. Data can be broadcast from HST to the ground stations immediately or stored on tape and downlinked later. The observer on the ground can examine the raw images and other data within a few minutes for a quick-look analysis. Within 4 hours, GSFC formats the data for delivery to the STScI. STScI is responsible for data processing (calibration, editing, distribution, and maintenance of the data for the scientific community). Competition is keen for HST observing time. Only one of every ten proposals is accepted. This unique space-based observatory is operated as an international research center; as a resource for astronomers world-wide.
During the First Servicing Mission in December 1, the astronauts installed the Corrective Optics Space Telescope Axial Replacement (COSTAR) in the fourth axial bay (in place of the High Speed Photometer). COSTAR deployed corrective reflecting optics in the optical paths in front of the Faint Object Camera, thus removing the effects of the primary mirrors spherical aberration. In addition the Wide Field and Planetary Camera (WF/PC) was replaced by the WFPC, which contains internal optics to correct the spherical aberration. Also, the Hubbles original Wide Field and Planetary Camera was replaced with WFPC. NICMOS, was installed in the Hubble Space Telescope during the 17 Second Servicing Mission. Also, STIS was installed in the Hubble Space Telescope during the 17 second servicing mission. In 1 the Servicing Mission A astronauts replace the faulty transmitter with a spare. In 00 the HST B servicing mission added a camera that will increase the imaging capability 10 times over its current capability.
Hubble Discovers Black Holes in Unexpected Places
The previously undiscovered black holes provide an important link that sheds light on the way in which black holes grow. These new black holes were found in the cores of glittering, beehive swarms of stars called globular star clusters, which orbit our Milky Way and other galaxies. The black hole in globular cluster M15 is 4,000 times more massive than our Sun. G1 a much larger globular cluster, harbors a heftier black hole, about 0,000 times more massive than our Sun. These two globular star clusters, M15 and G1, harbor hundreds of thousands of stars. But deep within their dense cores is an unexpected guest a class of intermediate-sized black holes. Black holes are invisible, but the probing eye of NASAs Hubble Space Telescope found them by measuring the velocities of stars whirling around the crowded cores. The new findings promise a better understanding of how galaxies and globular clusters first formed billions of years ago. Globular star clusters contain the oldest stars in the universe. If these clusters have black holes now, then they most likely had black holes when they formed billions of years ago. The Hubble telescope photograph of M15 was taken December 18 by the Wide Field and Planetary Camera . Hubbles Wide Field and Planetary Camera also snapped the image of G1, in July 14.
A Wheel within a Wheel
The entire galaxy is about 10,000 light-years wide, which is slightly larger than our Milky Way Galaxy. The blue ring, which is dominated by clusters of young, massive stars, contrasts sharply with the yellow nucleus of mostly older stars. What appears to be a gap separating the two stellar populations may actually contain some star clusters that are almost too faint to see. Curiously, an object that bears an uncanny resemblance to Hoags Object can be seen in the gap at the one oclock position. The object is probably a background ring galaxy. "This unusual galaxy was discovered in 150 by astronomer Art Hoag" (Ref. 8). Hoag thought the smoke-ring-like object resembled a planetary nebula, the glowing remains of a Sun-like star. But he quickly discounted that possibility, suggesting that the mysterious object was most likely a galaxy. Observations in the 170s confirmed this prediction, though many of the details of Hoags galaxy remain a mystery. The galaxy is 600 million light-years away in the constellation Serpens. The Wide Field and Planetary Camera took this image on July , 001.
Quaoar
"Quaoar is about 800 miles (100 kilometers) in diameter and is about half the size of Pluto" (Ref. 1). Like Pluto, Quaoar dwells in the Kuiper belt, an icy debris field of comet-like bodies extending 7 billion miles beyond Neptunes orbit. Quaoar is the farthest object in the solar system ever to be resolved by a telescope. It is about 4 billion miles (6.5 billion kilometers) from Earth, more than 1 billion miles farther than Pluto. The Hubble photo does not show details of Quaoars icy surface because the object is too far away. The photograph was made by assembling 16 pictures of the object. Observations were made July 5, 00 and Aug. 1, 00.
The Best View of Mars
The Hubble Telescope has captured the best view of Mars ever obtained from Earth. Frosty white water ice clouds and swirling orange dust storms above a vivid rusty landscape reveal Mars as a dynamic planet in this sharpest view ever obtained by an Earth-based telescope. The Earth-orbiting Hubble telescope snapped this picture on June 6, when Mars was "approximately 4 million miles (68 million km) from Earth" (Ref.1) its closest approach to our planet since 188. Hubble can see details as small as 10 miles across.
Quasars
The Hubble Telescope cleared up the mystery of quasars. It confirmed that quasars are actually active galactic nuclei in distant galaxies and are powered by black holes. "Discovered only years ago, quasars are among the most baffling objects in the universe because of their small size and prodigious energy output." (Ref. ) Quasars are not much bigger than Earths solar system but pour out 100 to 1,000 times as much light as an entire galaxy containing a hundred billion stars.
The Birth of Stars
Hubbles unprecedented views of star birth reveal the diverse and complex processes that influence star formation. They show that planet-forming dust disks surrounding young stars are common throughout the galaxy. Hubble was the first telescope to reveal the internal structures of these disks, which suggest the presence of newly formed planets.
In conclusion, the Hubble Space Telescope is a unique astronomical observatory. From its vantage point 60 kilometers above the surface of the Earth, it looks out into space with a .4-meter primary mirror, which provides unprecedented image resolution from 10 nanometers (near-ultraviolet) to 500 nanometers (near-infrared). The near vacuum of space affords the HST with an unfair advantage over ground-based observatories. The Earths atmosphere absorbs a great deal of ultraviolet and infrared radiation, and distorts visible light images as well. In the upper reaches of the atmosphere, the HST is able to capture images and spectra from distant stars which would be difficult or impossible to obtain from the ground.
Mankind has spent many centuries staring at the heavens, wondering what exists out beyond this world. One question that has fascinated humans since the beginning of time is Is there life out in space, another planet that possesses forests and lakes, dogs and cats, sentient beings that have the ability to reason as we do? Another is What are those lights in the sky? Are they holes in the fabric or are they gods flying around? Mankind has strived to develop devices and procedures to answer these questions. One such device was the telescope.
The first telescopes were primitive tubes with pieces of glass at each end and used the principal of light refraction. This is a way of increasing the amount of light present, which in turn allows for more visible objects, which would not be typically seen by the naked eye. Galileo was the first well-known astronomer to use a telescope to survey the heavens. He even studied the sun so much, he went blind! The refractor telescope is still a very popular instrument with modern astronomers.
There are some downfalls that are inherent to refractor telescopes. During the manufacturing process, opticians design refracting lenses with a curve in the lens. When someone looks through a piece of curved glass, the image on the other side is usually distorted; the amount of distortion is usually dependent on the distance the lens is from the object being sighted in. Just imagine how much possible distortion could be present when looking at distant planets or solar systems! Another problem the opticians face is that a piece of curved glass with the size necessary to view far away objects has an extreme amount of weight and requires some serious support to hold it up. Also, the gravitational pull on the glass itself will warp it over time.
Another early version of telescope was the reflecting telescope, developed by Sir Isaac Newton. This type of telescope relied on the use of mirrors to reflect the light by use of a parabolic mirror. This compensated for the distortions that were caused by the curved lenses of refractor telescopes.
A major disadvantage of reflector telescopes has been that the secondary mirror is often obstructing the field of view.
Another major obstacle that has hindered the study of space by earth bound telescopes has been the atmosphere and disagreeable weather patterns that have plagued astronomers for centuries. When it was cloudy, the conventional telescope would not be as effective.
Another type of telescope used is the radio telescope. This type of telescope uses a dish to reflect signals to a focal point, which amplifies them, so they can be analyzed.
The Hubble Space Telescope has provided scientists with a very efficient and accurate amount of data, archiving an average of to 5 gigabytes of data daily. Deployed in 10 (from a space shuttle mission), it circles the Earth every 7 minutes, at an altitude of approximately 600 kilometers (70 miles). It is a valuable source of vital information for astronomers worldwide, providing them with 10 to 15 gigabytes of data.
The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) was designed with upgrading in mind. It has a modular design, meaning that it is divided up into sections, which can be individually removed and replaced with improved technology. This allows for easy maintenance and upgrades by space shuttle crewmembers, which perform these operations by space walk.
The HST is completely self-powered, utilizing solar energy harnessed by the large solar panels mounted to its sides. These prominent panels rotate slowly, to maintain an alignment with the sun. When the HST is in the Earth's shadow, it uses energy that it has stored in batteries to power it until it sees the sun again. Each instrument on the Hubble is designed to use a minimal amount of energy (about 150 watts) to conserve energy that may needed at a later date.
Telescopes have provided not only astronomy, but many other scientific disciplines with much needed and breakthrough information over the centuries. The astronomical discoveries in the last fifty years alone have proven that telescopes are one of the greatest inventions ever developed. Comins, Neil F., and William J. Kaufmann III. Discovering the Universe. Ed. Patrick Farace. New York W. H. Freeman and Company, 10
Please note that this sample paper on universe is for your review only. In order to eliminate any of the plagiarism issues, it is highly recommended that you do not use it for you own writing purposes. In case you experience difficulties with writing a well structured and accurately composed paper on universe, we are here to assist you. Your cheap custom research papers on universe will be written from scratch, so you do not have to worry about its originality.
Order your authentic assignment from cheap essay writing service and you will be amazed at how easy it is to complete a quality custom paper within the shortest time possible!
