Questions tagged [hubble-telescope]
Questions regarding the Hubble Space Telescope, a visible light telescope orbiting Earth.
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Interpreting the color of galaxies in deep field images
The HST produced some deep field images in mostly visible light, which contain thousands of galaxies that range in color from white to red (e.g. see here). I understand that the interpretation of ...
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Conversion to Jy of Hubble WFC3 units (electrons/s) and of Spitzer IRAC (MJy/sr)
I am trying to figure out how to convert the units of some FITS files to Jy. These files refer to observations in different bands using different instruments. I list them below with my way of ...
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Why can four-eight "rays" be seen around all stars in astronomy photographs from the Hubble Space telescope? [duplicate]
In famous astronomy photographs from the Hubble Space telescope such as the Pillars of Creation, each star has four rectilinear "rays" projecting out in the intercardinal directions, and ...
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How often and for what reasons does Hubble use two different instruments at the same time?
A comment under this answer to ** links to Hubblesite.org's Hubble Shoots the Moon The image, its description and credits are shown below.
As explained, the purpose of the observation was to record a ...
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Orientation of the optical telescope assembly in the Hubble Space Telescope
What is the orientation of the optical telescope assembly with respect to the direction of motion of the Hubble Space Telescope? If it happens to be in the direction of motion, does the primary mirror ...
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List of stars and galaxies in astronomy images
I am aware of popular initiatives such as the Wikipedia articles listing astronomical objects on the basis of some criteria but... do some kind of systematic indexing, or catalogue, of objects found, ...
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What is this curve, captured both in the Webb and Hubble images?
Any guesses what this might be?
Source: tweet
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How many Milky Way stars in the Andromeda picture?
I am new to Astronomy, I got interested lately thanks to James Webb Space Telescope. I have some questions. In this zoomable picture of Andromeda galaxy, how many of our stars (Milky Way stars) in ...
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How to plot matplotlib plots as tables in python(hdf5 tables)
I have extracted the data from a fits file and plotted a spectra.i need to do the same for multiple fits files .how can I store the resultant spectra's as a hdf5 table or fits table?
And which ...
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Pulling spectral data from Hubble Telescope automatically
Libraries currently I am using: Astropy, Numpy, Matplotlib
I am looking to create a python script that pulls spectral data (wavelength vs flux chart) from the Hubble Telescope, specifically for Be ...
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Why does Hubble's F850LP filter have a different shape than all the others shown in Dr. Becky's video "ALL THE DETAILS on Earendel..."?
It will take some time to read through @Pela's excellent answer to Is there a better explanation of this picture showing the very distant star "Earendel"? and to slowly ease myself into it I'...
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Is there a better explanation of this picture showing the very distant star "Earendel"?
"Close-up of the tiny region where Earendel happened to fall right on top of the narrow line where the magnification increases by (tens of) thousands of times. A cluster of many stars is seen ...
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General process of calculating what a telescope's diffraction spikes would look like?
I was reading this question about the JWST's diffraction spikes, and I was rather surprised by the magnitude of the 4 sets of diffraction spikes.
The large hexagonal spike pattern I believe is formed ...
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How do JWST and Hubble compare in detecting small bodies in the solar system that are a) white, b) black, c) Arrokoth-like, d) Voyager-like?
Assume the object is small, spherical, and illuminated only by the Sun, and has some apparent motion. The object is either:
a) white - reflecting 100% perfectly diffusely (assume low temperature)
b) ...
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Is it possible to take the same images in HST palette as the optic telescope but with radio telescope?
Is it possible to detect signal from SII, H$\alpha$, OIII using radio telescope and make the similar images as optic telescope? If no, can we use the different elements to take signal?
What minimal ...
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Are all space documentaries CGI?
Consider the following video by BBC about the Pillars of Creation:
According to a quick google search, the POC are 7000 light years away.
If we just had a picture of ...
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Finding raw HST data for WFC or HRC?
I'm doing a project that requires raw .fits images that contain a certain galaxy from the HST (F814W filter).
I've been able to find the calibrated images of the WFC view using the MAST data portal. ...
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What exactly causes very bright sources, such as supernovae, to appear as large circles in photographs?
Consider images such as those in https://hubblesite.org/contents/news-releases/2021/news-2021-007, which show bright supernovae embedded in their host galaxies. No matter which telescope and which ...
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What is Hubbles WFC3 "UVIS 47 G200" filter? What is it used for? How to find an example?
Extensive reading for Are the dispersion directions of the prism and the grating in Hubble WFC3 UVIS G280 perpendicular? Can we call this a "grism"? With cross-disparsion? led me to ...
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Are the dispersion directions of the prism and the grating in Hubble WFC3 UVIS G280 perpendicular? Can we call this a "grism"? With cross-disparsion?
Prologue
From Into the UV: A precise transmission spectrum of HAT-P-41b using Hubble's WFC3/UVIS G280 grism:
The UVIS grism, however, comes with several quirks that make it difficult to observe with ...
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Why do space telescopes have GRISMS? Why a grating AND a prism for cross-dispersion in slitless spectroscopy?
https://hst-docs.stsci.edu/wfc3ihb lists the page 8.2 Slitless Spectroscopy with the UVIS G280 Grism which contains details of one of the GRISMs of the Hubble Space Telescope (GRISM = Grating + Prism)....
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Shortest and longest wavelengths at which exoplanets have been resolved from their primaries?
Phys.org's Radio signals from distant stars suggest hidden planets summarizes the Nature Astronomy paper The population of M dwarfs observed at low radio frequencies (also in arXiv) but this is an ...
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Are there any Hubble images of Polymele available?
Lucy is a spacecraft that will visit trojan asteroids, among which there is the asteroid Polymele. Before doing an occultation observing campaign for the asteroid Polymele in October 2021, the Lucy ...
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How does the Hubble Space Telescope measure the speed of the wind inside Jupiter's Great Red Spot?
Space.com's Jupiter's winds of change show increased storm speeds in Great Red Spot and Hubblesite.org's Hubble Shows Winds in Jupiter's Great Red Spot are Speeding Up both link to the recent open ...
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How to properly compare radio to optical/NIR images?
I mainly work with radio continuum data and recently I started working on some HST hydrogen recombination line datasets to compare with the radio data that I have, but I'm very confused about what is ...
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How was the recently publicized Hubble image of a distant galaxy showing clearly resolved lensed in an Einstein ring produced? When was it produced?
The 24-Sep-2021 NASA Goddard video Einstein Ring Spotted by Hubble and it's Goddard Media Studio's page Einstein Ring Spotted By Hubble discuss the image, but don't really give credit to how it was ...
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Do telescope measurements (in meters, usually) measure in a straight line, from edge to edge, or follow the curve of the mirror?
Somehow, no site or book or magazine has clarified this question for me....
Perhaps I am an idiot, but,
Is the parabolic primary mirror on the new James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) 6.5 meters from ...
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How is Hubble? What role does the payload computer play for astronomic observations?
Hubble seems to have a issues since weeks. Here what NASA says:
July 13, 2021 - Formal Review Completed to Assess All Operations Related to Hubble's Possible Switch to Backup Hardware
NASA completed ...
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How much real time was compressed into this 10 second long timelapse Hubble video of Jupiter's aurora?
The HubbleESA video Timelapse of Jupiter’s auroras is discussed in the ESAHubble page Timelapse of Jupiter’s auroras and includes the identifier heic1613a. However ...
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Do point spread functions from large single telescopes using adaptive optics still look like Airy functions for narrow-band filters?
this answer to Claim that 30-m class telescopes will have resolution far superior to Hubble: true? mentions
...the possibility of attaining near diffraction-limited images using adaptive optics.
The ...
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What (if any) capabilities of Hubble are unique and irreplaceable? What can it do that can't be done by any other ground or space-based telescope?
It's impossible to summarize in an SE post the depth and breadth of the contributions to science made using the Hubble Space Telescope.
Above the atmosphere it has
access to an extremely dark and ...
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How long was the HST initially supposed to work?
For space missions, there is typically a minimum time that is defined for the mission to fulfill all of its science objectives, then an extended mission with extra objectives. And after that, the ...
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Can we get a picture of Oumuamua with Hubble Space Telescope?
Can we get a picture of Oumuamua with Hubble Space Telescope?
If not, what are the reasons?
Answers why other telescopes might fail to get a picture of Oumuamua are welcomed as well.
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How exactly can the Hubble Space Telescope see up to 15 billion light years?
I've been researching about the Hubble Space Telescope on nasa.gov, and I've read that Hubble uses a digital camera to take pictures like a cell phone. That's all I've found so far. I can't find any ...
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Will JWST have fewer observing sessions of much longer duration compared to Hubble?
In The Observatory @Donald.McLean linked to Scientists will peer at first galaxies with James Webb telescope which says in part:
Many of the proposed tasks for the Webb telescope were planned and ...
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Has Hubble photographed Venus in near IR? If so how does it compare to the new and exciting Parker Solar Probe image?
Phys.org's Parker Solar Probe offers stunning view of Venus includes the image below taken by the Parker Solar Probe during it's most recent gravitational assist flyby of Venus as it continues to rid ...
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What produces all of these small radial striations in this very overexposed image of a star by Hubble's WFC2? (the four big ones are from the vanes)
In a recent astrometry question in Space SE I needed to check Proxima Centauri's position and the article contained the image below.
I've saturated the colors, cropped it, and added a "...
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How does a galaxy in Abell 2261 exist without a black hole in the center?
Here a source says that astronomers looked for a black hole in the brightest galaxy in the cluster Abell 2261, A2261-BCG, but found nothing:
However, X-ray observations from NASA's Chandra X-ray ...
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Powerful-enough telescopes to observe the Lunar Roving Vehicle from Earth?
Apparently, not even the Hubble telescope (which is actually in orbit, not even on Earth) is powerful enough to observe the LVR... will we ever have the technology to observe the LVR from Earth?
(it ...
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Why does M101 search string have RA variable from 0 to 360 and Dec variable from -90 to +90 in the Hubble Legacy Archive?
I was scraping some images off the Hubble Legacy Archive and I found that searching M101 with RA in range 0-360 and Dec in range -90 to +90 yields results. Now I understand that Messier 101 galaxy has ...
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How is the roll of the Hubble telescope around its axis and the dispersive direction(s) of it's spectrometer(s) managed?
Reading Dupree et al. 2020 Spatially Resolved Ultraviolet Spectroscopy of the Great Dimming of Betelgeuse (also in arXiv and summarized in Phys.org's Hubble finds that Betelgeuse's mysterious dimming ...
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How to invert fits headers order (primary/secondary)?
I have an image from Hubble telescope with two headers and this creates a problem because my program expects the NAXIS, NAXIS1, NAXIS2 in the first header, but in this image case, this info is in the ...
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How can I get/generate/extract PSF image from galaxy .fits image?
I want to model an image of a galaxy from Hubble.
For this, I need the PSF image as well.
I already tried to use TinyTim, but I don't have half of the parameters and cant be sure about the quality of ...
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Re-align HST narrowband images to GOODS-S
I want to re-align the image data of filter F658N to GOODS-South catalog with TweakReg. I used the external catalog of image data generated by SExtractor as input catalog (threshold is set to 5.0) ...
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How was astronomical data meant to be handled on HST precursors?
The first drafts for a large space telescope such as Hubble were made in the 60's, and the idea of a space observatory originated long before that. From Wikipedia:
In 1968, NASA developed firm ...
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Why is Ganymede's aurora only visible in ultraviolet while Earth's is bright green and red?
GANYMEDE AURORAE
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope observed a pair of auroral belts encircling the Jovian moon Ganymede. The belts were observed in ultraviolet light by the Space Telescope Imaging ...
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Approximately how many light years across (arclength) was the furthest reaches of the Hubble Ultra Deep Field?
I can find the area($11^2$ arcminutes) and lengths ($200$ arcseconds per side) but if I were to consider just the furthest region (arclength) of the survey, about how many light years across would ...
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Relationship between Color Index and Temperature
Is there an exact relationship between color indices and temperature?
I have seen some numerical formulas relating B - V color index to temperature, of the form $B - V = a_1 + \frac{a_2}{T} $ .
I ...
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Did Hubble see a pair of UFOs? (Identify this artifact)
The image below is this one, found in this group of Hubble space telescope images of the interstellar comet 2I/Borisov (C/2019 Q4).
Can anyone recognize this pair of artifacts in the upper right ...
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Questions about Hubble's brand new view of an interstellar comet (video)
This GIF is made (via giphy.com) from the new NASA Goddard video Hubble's New Image of Interstellar Object and if I understand correctly many (if not all) of these frames are from https://archive....
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