Download NOVA: Hunting the Edge of Space

Your name:____________________________
NOVA: Hunting the Edge of Space
(If not in class, watch at: https://youtu.be/QkyX4C44Qwg.) As you watch the movie, please answer the
following questions:
1. When was the Hubble space telescope launched?
2. The telescope was invented in a small town in Holland by spectacle makers, but who was the Italian
Mathematics professor who greatly improved on this invention?
3. The person from question 2 made several extraordinary astronomical observations, using the
telescope. Name 3 of them:
4. What’s the name of the NASA mission investigating why Saturn has rings and what they are made of?
5. What is the amazing thing that the telescopes of this mission do?
6. Why did the early refraction telescopes produce fuzzy images?
7. If you can only use refraction technology, what’s the solution to this problem?
8. What kind of telescope did Newton invent?
9. A century later, who was the musician who decided to make a huge telescope based on Newton’s
findings, using molten tin and copper mirrors?
10. The musician’s sister wrote down all of their observations. What was her name?
11. Which planet did the siblings discover in 1781?
12. What purpose does NASA’s Kepler telescope three year mission have?
13. What’s the name of the telescope tasked with exploring the mysteries of the Milky Way?
14. How much of the universe’s total matter and energy can we actually “see?”