Hubbleicious Visions of the Universe

Hubble, Hubble, Toil and Trouble, there is nothing more awesome than space. Space is the final frontier, the ultimate storage dump for humanity, cliched expressions, and wonders beyond our wildest dreams. At one time, man could do little but stand on the grassy plains and look up at twinkling pin pricks of light, but then some bright spark invented the wheel, or discovered fire, or did both at the same time whilst domesticating the first dogs, and so eventually, the Hubble Telescope was created.

Of course, that's rather a simplified version of the process that was used to create Hubble, but you get the general idea. The actual process was quite a lot longer than you or I have time for and I'm sure we'd all like to get some tea at some point, so lets not dilly dally too much.

In eternal (or 'quite a long time-al') freefall, Hubble orbits the earth, always falling towards the surface, but in a twist of miraculos science, doing it at the same rate as the earth curves away from it. Hubble was over 44 years in the making, which just goes to show you that it is worth taking the time to do something right. Unfortunately, when Hubble was first launched, it hadn't been done quite right at all, and faults in the main mirror meant that it wasn't all that much use until people went and fixed it in 1993, which goes to show you that a stitch in time saves nine.

Although beset by various problems of a technical nature, Hubble has nevertheless provided us with some of the most amazing glimpses into space that humanity has ever seen. Hubble has revealed to use dancing nebulae, the infernal heart of a star gone supernova, and many other breathtaking sights that at once remind us of how very small we are, and how great this universe is.

For scientists, Hubble has meant that great leaps have been taken in discovering how the universe works, where and how stars are formed, what the various galaxies are comprised of. The wealth of material Hubble has uncovered has been astonishing, however for the layman, Hubble has presented a different, but no lesser gift, the gift of perspective. Petty quibbles melt away when one is faced with the sheer awesomeness of some of the sights that this mass of mirrors has enabled us to see.

Galaxies, nebulae, planets and stars, our universe is unfolding before our eyes. A myriad of stars are living and dying as we orbit our little sun.

WARNING: May cause fits of philosophical thought, soul searching, and potential navel gazing.