Monday, May 11, 2009

A New Eye In The Sky: Final Hubble Upgrade


PHOTO: Hubble Supercamera Takes Final "Pretty Picture"
May 11, 2009—In its final "pretty picture," the longest-running Hubble Space Telescope camera has snapped the remains of a giant red star (above), NASA announced on Monday.

The Wide Field Planetary Camera 2, which NASA hailed as a Supercamera in a statement released today, will be decommissioned during the final space shuttle Hubble-repair mission set to launch today.

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More spectacular shots will undoubtedly follow with the camera's predecessor Wide Field Camera 3, to be installed in coming days.

The next-generation technology will build on Camera 2 with its ability to span the entire electromagnetic spectrum, from ultraviolet light to visible light that can be seen with the naked eye.

You can click here to see more about the mission of Atlantis. Cool stuff.
     

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