The Hubble Space Telescope is a large telescope that was launched into low Earth orbit in 1990. It is named after American astronomer Edwin Hubble. The telescope has a 2.4-meter (7.9 ft) primary mirror, and its four scientific instruments observe in the near ultraviolet, visible, and near infrared spectra. The telescope is one of the Great Observatories, along with the Spitzer Space Telescope, the Chandra X-ray Observatory, and the James Webb Space Telescope. With a diameter of 2.4 meters (7 feet 10 inches), Hubble’s four main mirrors are each 1 meter (40 inches) wide—the largest mirrors ever deployed on a space telescope at the time of launch. Hubble’s optics allow it to have approximately three times greater resolving power than ground-based telescopes. Hubbleservicesprovide astronomers with essential data to guide astronomical research programs across a wide range of topics including cosmology, extra-solar planets, general relativity, stellar evolution, and solar system studies.:206–207
Hubble Space Telescope
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