The Hubble telescope celebrates its 30th anniversary on April 24. - NASA

  • Thirty years ago, the Hubble Space Telescope was launched.
  • After a few hiccups at startup, he is the source of many discoveries in astrophysics and has inspired many aspiring astronomers.
  • The Cité de l'Espace will allow you to relive this anniversary during a 100% digital event, just to escape during confinement.

Thirty years ago, the Hubble telescope embarked in the hold of the Discovery shuttle, in the direction of space, 600 km above the floor of the cows. For many astrophysicists, this new instrument was full of promise, a revolution that allowed us to see the far reaches of the Universe, to discover the most distant galaxy ever observed, at 13.4 billion light years away.

"Major discoveries", for Thierry Contini, director of research at the CNRS. For him who studies the emerging galaxies, the billions of stars that compose them like the Milky Way, Hubble is an inexhaustible source of information. This Friday, this scientist will share his knowledge on the adventures of the telescope during a 100% digital event organized by the Space Cite and the astronomy association Ups in Space from 1 p.m. to 11 p.m., on social networks . A way to escape in full confinement and to show the role of basic research.

🔭 On April 24, @CiteEspace and @upsinspace join forces for the 30th anniversary of @NASAHubble.
On the program for this day: scientific interviews, original images, animations…
An escape to the stars! ✨
🔹Join the event> https://t.co/vsDwMVxJt0 # Hubble30 pic.twitter.com/6yW4movf4C

- Cité de l'Espace (@CiteEspace) April 10, 2020

"Its image quality, outside of the atmosphere, is of a clarity that cannot be achieved on Earth and that is its main asset, this allowed us to see the stars better and to go further", poses preamble this researcher at the Institute for Research in Astrophysics and Planetology.

Hubble made the Universe concrete

But this has not always been the case. Because before seeing Hubble deliver the first high-quality observations of previously unknown galaxies, we had to wait. Two months after its orbit in mid-June, the first images arrive on Earth ... And they are blurred. Hubble is shortsighted and we will have to correct this.

Seeing more than the eye can see. 👀 🔭 ✨

What questions do you have about @NASAHubble and how it has uncovered a universe of cosmic wonders? Tag your questions with #AskNASA & check back later for responses. Explore the mission: https://t.co/w6Vt5npHVZ # Hubble30 pic.twitter.com/6K1JtYPeWI

- NASA (@NASA) April 21, 2020

Three years and a rescue mission later, the telescope could show everything in its womb. “With such quality, why not look at a point in space for a long time. This is what has been done, by accumulating the light of distant stars. We obtained the first deep field, it is the deepest image that we have of the universe at present. Hubble is a cosmic time machine and sees galaxies as they were long ago. It opened our eyes to our origins, allowed us to see how the galaxies are evolving and advanced our knowledge of our solar system ”, continues Thierry Contini. So many data which were used to estimate the age of our Universe.

The Deep Universe and the billions of galaxies in it captured by the Hubble telescope. - NASA / ESA

By transmitting 120 GB of data each day, Hubble also made concrete space for the general public, allowed to put images on words, pushing some towards astronomy, and sometimes disappointing them not to find in their telescope all the beauty of the stars he had delivered to them. Clouds of gas and supernovae, you want some here.

It's my birthday! 🥳

To celebrate, I peeked at what @NASAHubble spotted on my bday in years past, and it's REALLY COOL: https://t.co/C9XNkvobjl # Hubble30

(Hubble is only a few years younger than 😂 # Valerie33) pic.twitter .com / qosjwK407O

- Valerie Stimac 🚀 (@Valerie_Valise) April 23, 2020

So much so that for its birthday, NASA has decided to deliver a few, through a small interactive game, where everyone can select the day of their birthday and see which image had been captured that day.

Almost at the end

Among his feats of arms, we also find the supermassive black holes in the center of the galaxies, whose presence he has confirmed. Just like the existence of dark matter. Thanks to its 13.2 meters long and 4.2 m wide, this little gem of technology has discovered the moons of Pluto, the dwarf planets of the Kuiper belt, or even Arrokoth, the most distant object explored by humanity at the start of last year after flying over the New Horizons spacecraft.

Read: Join us on Friday April 24 for a live chat with @HUBBLE_space experts from around the world! We will celebrate together the 30th anniversary of this iconic observatory. # Hubble30 https://t.co/CPdZWoImyy pic.twitter.com/sccrrVNSzp

- ESA France (@ESA_fr) April 22, 2020

Next year, after more than thirty years of good and loyal service, it should give way to its successor, the James Webb telescope. Unless we extend its lifespan once more…

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