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National Aeronautics and Space Administration THESTAR A P U B L I C A T I O N O F N A S A’S WITNESS “A M A Z I N G S P A C E” E D U C A T I O N P R O G R A M Special Feature What Comes Around, Goes Around: Celebrating Hubble’s 100,000th Orbit By NASA’s Amazing Space reporters Sept. 2008 O n august 11, 2008 at 7:42 a.m. Eastern time, the Hubble Space Telescope accomplished a major milestone by completing its 100,000th orbit around Earth. In honor of this milestone, scientists used the telescope to capture an image of a dazzling star-forming region located near star cluster NGC 2074. Racking up ‘frequent flier’ miles The telescope circles our planet about once every 90 minutes. During its 18 years in orbit, Hubble has racked up more than 2.5 billion miles (4 billion km). This distance is equivalent to traveling from Saturn to the Sun and back. The average car only travels about 160,000 miles in its lifetime. This makes Hubble’s travels around our planet equal to the lifetime of about 15,000 cars. Continued, page 2… IMAGE: NASA, ESA, and M. Livio (STScI) Bright star-forming region: This image was taken by the Hubble telescope to commemorate its 100,000th orbit. The star cluster NGC 2074 (the bright grouping of stars at upper left) is near the starbirth area. Continued from page 1… Hubble gets a tune-up Hubble was the first space telescope designed to be serviced in space. Scientists believed that periodic servicing missions would extend Hubble’s operating life and keep the observatory up-to-date. Astronauts have already visited Hubble four times, and another visit is scheduled for October 2008. The visit, called Servicing Mission 4, will increase the telescope’s scientific power and keep it operational until at least 2013. Uncovering the secrets of the universe The servicing missions that keep Hubble running smoothly have paid off. The orbiting observatory has made about 870,000 observations resulting in more than 560,000 images of celestial objects. Hubble’s contributions to astronomy include providing clues to how galaxies evolve over time and how stars form and die. The telescope also has helped astronomers determine a more exact age for the universe. Hubble’s location at 100,000th orbit NASA, ESA, and G. Bacon (STScI) Milestone reached: This illustration shows the Hubble telescope’s location when it began its 100,000th orbit. The telescope was directly over the equator and heading north, flying above the Pacific Ocean. Hubble completes an orbit around Earth about once every 90 minutes. 2 Returning to Hubble for SM4 Servicing Mission 3B payload commander, John Grunsfeld, gives the “thumbs-up” sign during SM3B. He and other experienced crewmembers will return to Hubble as part of the Servicing Mission 4 team. NASA Hubble Space Telescope after SM3B NASA The Hubble Space Telescope sporting its new solar panels, installed during Servicing Mission 3B, in 2002. The telescope was launched on April 24, 1990. It orbits 380 miles above Earth. 3 SEE MORE Hubble images and read more Star Witness news stories at Amazing Space, NASA’s award-winning educational Web site for K-12 students and teachers. amazing-space.stsci.edu www.nasa.gov