The Hubble Space Telescope was launched aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery and placed in orbit about 540 kilometres above the Earth, above the atmosphere that blurs the view of ground-based telescopes. It was named after the astronomer Edwin Hubble, who showed that the universe contains many galaxies and is expanding. Soon after launch it was found that its main mirror was ground to the wrong shape, giving blurred images, and astronauts fixed this during a servicing mission in 1993. Hubble's images, including the Deep Fields, helped to determine the age of the universe, revealed that the expansion of the universe is accelerating and provided evidence for black holes at the centres of galaxies. It is a joint project of NASA and the European Space Agency.
Before and after
- from March 1990 to March 1997South Armagh sniper campaign
- from 8 April 1990 to 10 June 1991Premiere of Twin Peaks
- 13 April 1990First flight of Sukhoi Su-34
- 15 April 1990Birth of Emma Watson
- 24 April 1990Launch of Hubble Space Telescope
- 7 May 1990Founding of European Environment Agency
- 22 May 1990Creation of Windows 3.0
- 12 June 1990Declaration of State Sovereignty of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic
- 13 July 1990Founding of Central Bank of Russia
More in Universe & space
- 1 May 1949Discovery of Nereid
- 5 March 1979Discovery of Thebe
- 8 July 1979Discovery of Adrastea
- 16 June 1989Discovery of Proteus
- 23 July 1995Discovery of Comet Hale-Bopp
- 15 May 2005Discovery of Nix
The era
This moment belongs to the Contemporary world (1945 CE to today), the world since 1945. You can also browse everything in the 20th century.