(Washington) The Hubble Space Telescope, which has revolutionized astronomy since its launch in 1990, will be gradually retired with a reduction in its observing hours, NASA officials announced Tuesday.
One of the three gyroscopes that control the direction the telescope is pointed has experienced stability issues in recent months.
“After a series of tests and careful consideration of our options, we made the decision to have Hubble use only one of its three remaining gyroscopes,” said Mark Clampin, director of the Department of Astrophysics. from NASA.
The transition, which is expected to be completed by mid-June, will reduce Hubble’s ability to carry out scientific observations by 12%, with 74 weekly orbits around the Earth instead of the current 85, Patrick Crouse said. head of the Hubble mission.
Over the next 12 months, the telescope will still be able to observe the entire starry sky, but will no longer be able to track objects closer than the planet Mars – even if such objects are rare anyway –, said Patrick Crouse.
“We do not believe that Hubble is in its final stages,” he said.
NASA estimates the probability that Hubble will operate in this configuration until 2035 is 70%.
Hubble, launched in 1990, revolutionized astronomy and changed our vision of the Universe, by accumulating images of the solar system, the Milky Way and very distant galaxies while operating 515 km above the Earth. It is thanks to him that scientists discovered the existence of a galactic black hole at the center of all galaxies, or of water vapor around exoplanets.
Perhaps one of the most important instruments in human history, Hubble continues to make important discoveries such as in 2022, when the telescope detected Earendel: the most distant star ever observed.
According to Mark Clampin, despite its reduced capacities, Hubble continues to investigate objects in our solar system, to study certain distant galaxies, or to collaborate with the James Webb space telescope (launched in 2021) to examine the atmospheres of exoplanets.
James Webb excels at infrared detection, while Hubble focuses on visible light – providing a complementary duo for scientific observation.