0.5 Preface
This book is a guided tour of the Universe, as seen through the eyes of Hubble.
No other telescope has ever been launched into space with a wider range of scientific goals and
scientific instruments. And no telescope on the ground shares Hubble’s pin-sharp image quality
and unprecedented view of the whole sky.
Combine this with almost a quarter century of day and night observing, and it should come as
no surprise that Hubble’s photo album of the universe is second to none. From the planets of
the Solar System to the structure of galaxy clusters half way across the universe, Hubble has
arguably taught us more about the cosmos than any other scientific facility ever built.
Hubble has made over a million observations in its time in orbit. Many of these are scientific
measurements rather than pictures, and many of those pictures are only interesting to
scientists. But that still leaves literally thousands of attractive pictures of the cosmos to choose
from, enough to fill many books. (And many have been written – see Appendix 3)
Astronomy is a field in constant change. In this book, we focus on some selected topics of
contemporary astronomy sprinkled with a selection of Hubble’s newer images – some of them
never published before outside of scientific journals – along with little-seen hidden treasures
from Hubble’s science archives.
After meeting Hubble, discovering its history (Chapter 1), technology (Chapter 2) and optics
(Chapter 3), we begin our journey through the cosmos close to home.
Before Hubble’s launch, we knew a great deal about the planets, but Hubble still had much to
teach us. From the discovery of Pluto’s moons, to the observation of worlds around other suns,
Chapter 4 tells the story of Hubble and the planets.
In Chapter 5, we take a tour of the stars and nebulae of our galaxy, taking in the birth and fate of
the Sun on the way. In Chapter 6, we go farther still, to the billions of other galaxies that
populate the universe, including the most distant ever discovered. Hubble’s discovery of
supermassive black holes at the hearts of many of these galaxies is the starting point for
Chapter 7, and the theme of darkness continues through Chapter 8, in which we tour the dark
cosmos – the invisible matter and energy that give the universe its structure.
In Chapter 9, we take a playful look at the mind-bending optical illusions Hubble has snapped
along the way, including “collisions” that aren’t collisions, “stars” that aren’t stars and ancient
suns masquerading as youngsters.
Finally in Chapter 10, with our grand tour of the universe complete, we look to the future. Hubble
has had an incredibly productive scientific career, and it should have more years in it yet. But
scientists and engineers are already looking to the future, and a new, even greater space
telescope, that they plan to launch in a few years’ time.
We hope you enjoy the ride.
Oli Usher
London, September 2013
Lars Lindberg Christensen
Garching bei München, September 2013
The Ring Nebula
This image shows the dramatic shape and color of the Ring Nebula. This image reveals intricate
structure only hinted at in previous observations, and has allowed scientists to construct a
model of the nebula in 3D – showing the true shape of this striking object.