Keith’s note: According to a last minute advisory “NASA will hold a media teleconference today at 4:30 p.m. EDT, Thursday, Sept. 29, to discuss a new study exploring potential commercial space opportunities for NASA science missions.” But look who is participating. Let’s all speculate. A third private SpaceX flight with EVAs? Update: NASA, SpaceX to Study Hubble Telescope Reboost Possibility

NASA Hubble Update: July 16, 2021 – NASA Successfully Switches to Backup Hardware on Hubble Space Telescope “NASA has successfully switched to backup hardware on the Hubble Space Telescope, including powering on the backup payload computer, on July 15. The switch was performed to compensate for a problem with the original payload computer that occurred on June 13 when the computer halted, suspending science data collection.” NASA Hubble Status: July […]

WRT #Hubble issues: just because there’s little news from @NASA does not mean that all hope is lost. It is an old spacecraft and there are still many options that have yet to be taken. So dial back the gossip and cross your fingers. Hubble is still a badass telescope. #astronomy pic.twitter.com/aAZc83C7Yf — NASA Watch (@NASAWatch) June 29, 2021

Keith’s note: Yesterday NASA named its headquarters building after Mary W. Jackson, the first African American female engineer at NASA. By coincidence Wil Pomerantz, Vice President of Virgin Orbit, started a Twitter effort to change the name of Stennis space Center – with some solid reasons based its namesake’s segregationist past as to why it should be considered. I asked via Twitter why the bust of Nazi rocketeer Wernher von […]

Keith’s 9 March note: Let’s see how many of you pay close attention to all of the photos that NASA releases from Hubble – there have been so many over the past 20+ years. Where is this image from? Keith’s 10 March update: OK, so I played a trick on some of you when originally posted this yesterday. This is not a Hubble image. It is actually a portion of […]

The Hubble Space TelescopeUnlocking the Secrets of the UniverseDaily Report #8140 Period Covered: 08:00 PM October 26, 2018 – 07:59 PM October 27, 2018 (DOY 300/0000z – 300/2359z) pic.twitter.com/B3jCyPlY9c — HubbleScience (@hubblescience) October 28, 2018

Hubble Finds Two Chaotically Tumbling Pluto Moons “If you lived on one of Pluto’s moons Nix or Hydra, you’d have a hard time setting your alarm clock. That’s because you could not know for sure when, or even in which direction, the sun would rise. A comprehensive analysis of all available Hubble Space Telescope data shows that two of Pluto’s moons, Nix and Hydra, are wobbling unpredictably. Scientists believe the […]

Celestial Fireworks Celebrate Hubble’s 25th Anniversary (With Amazing Video) “This glittering tapestry of young stars exploding into life in a dramatic fireworks display has been released today to celebrate 25 incredible years of the Hubble Space Telescope. The NASA/ESA Hubble was launched into orbit by the Space Shuttle on 24 April 1990. It was the first space telescope of its kind, and has surpassed all expectations, providing a quarter of […]

Keith’s note: Early this morning the @NewHorizons twitter posted “RT @AlanStern: Just announced: Pluto has new company– We’ve discovered a 5th moon using the Hubble Space Telescope!”. Why did the New Horizons PI get totally out ahead of everyone – his own team, NASA, STScI, even the IAU? A NASA spacecraft, operated using NASA funds, was used to observe the target for another NASA mission, and discovered a new moon […]

NRO Gifts NASA Two Leftover Space Telescopes, SpacePolicyOnline “The CAA’s response to the newswas rather muted. The reaction was surprisingly flat for a community that received a fairly valuable gift. At a media teleconference later in the day, NASA’s Michael Moore, deputy astrophysics division director,estimated thatabout $250 million in mission costs could be avoided by using one ofthe NRO telescopes. He added that the telescopes cost about $75,000-$100,000 to storeat […]

Spy agency gives NASA two spare Hubbles, Washington Post “I’m told by a government engineer with knowledge of the new instruments that they’re “a successful part of an otherwise failed program on the NRO side.” NASA has a mission for grounded spy telescopes, SpaceflightNow “But the 94-inch aperture on the NRO optical system will permit Hubble-class resolution over a wide field-of-view – imaging a swath of the sky 100 times […]

NASA’s Stubby Hubbles and Fumbled PR “Moore said that the hardware had been “declassified” so that NASA could use it. So, I asked, since it was “declassified”, what the names of these telescopes were and if we could have photos of the hardware. Moore declined to provide the names of the telescopes – or of anything NRO was providing, said that we could not have photos (because things were classified), […]

NASA gets two military spy telescopes for astronomy, Washington Post “The U.S. government’s secret space program has decided to give NASA two telescopes as big as, and even more powerful than, the Hubble Space Telescope. Designed for surveillance, the telescopes from the National Reconnaissance Office were no longer needed for spy missions and can now be used to study the heavens. They have 2.4-meter (7.9 feet) mirrors, just like the […]

NASA Astrophysics Urged To Slim Down, Aviation Week “The SRC strongly urges the HST to consider all possible avenues, vigorously pursuing ways to accelerate cost reductions without compromising mission safety even if some science is not enabled,” the panel cautioned the Hubble team in the April 4 report that included the Kepler extension recommendation. “To keep HST operating while maintaining the overall balance of NASA’s astrophysics program, it will be […]

Space Astronomy Archive and Supernova Are Named for Senator Barbara Mikulski “One of the world’s largest astronomy archives, containing a treasure trove of information about myriad stars, planets, and galaxies, has been named in honor of the United States Senator from Maryland, Barbara Mikulski. … In addition, an exploding star that the Hubble Space Telescope spotted on Jan. 25, 2012, has been named Supernova Mikulski by Nobel Laureate Adam Riess […]

Panel Discussion: U.S. Leadership in Astronomy: Space Telescopes Today, Tomorrow and Beyond “Featuring: Eric Smith, NASA Headquarters, Dr. John Grunsfeld, Deputy Director of the Space Telescope Science Institute, Dr. Meg Urry, Yale University, and Pam Whitney, House Committee on Science & Technology (invited).” House Science, Space & Tech Committee Hearing – Assessing the James Webb Space Telescope “Witnesses: – [Statement] Rick Howard, Program Manager, James Webb Space Telescope, NASA, – […]

Hubble Zooms In on a Space Oddity “One of the strangest space objects ever seen is being scrutinized by the penetrating vision of NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. A mysterious, glowing, green blob of gas is floating in space near a spiral galaxy. Hubble uncovered delicate filaments of gas and a pocket of young star clusters in the giant object, which is the size of our Milky Way galaxy.”

“For the past decades we have been posting the HST Daily Status Reports to this newsgroup for interested readers, and those people who use the HST as part of their daily work both in industry and academia. We have been notified that our usual method for receiving these reports will be terminated on October 8th. We can still get to the information and post it here, but there will be […]

Breaking Waves in the Stellar Lagoon “A spectacular new NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image reveals the heart of the Lagoon Nebula. Seen as a massive cloud of glowing dust and gas, bombarded by the energetic radiation of new stars, this placid name hides a dramatic reality. The Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) on the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has captured a dramatic view of gas and dust sculpted by intense […]