The Hubble Space Telescope: Imaging the Universe

by David H.; Smith, Robert W. Devorkin and David Devorkin

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• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0792268695
• ISBN13: 9780792268697
• Release Date: January 2004
• Publisher: National Geographic Society
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 1.50 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Not just pictures

The photographs in this slim volume are spectacular (but you already knew that -- or could easily have guessed from the title and publisher). The accompanying text includes a concise history of astronomical use of telescopes and photography as a preface to how the Hubble telescope arrived in low-Earth orbit, and also outlines the political and technological hurdles overcome on the journey. Surprisingly, Hubble's imaging instruments have all been replaced with in-orbit upgrades since the launch in 1990; only the flawed mirror itself remains unchanged. The authors also touch on the intricate mechanics of assigning observation time to competing astronomers, on the role of the Space Telescope Institute in Baltimore, and on the imaging standards needed to process, archive and share images from the telescope. The short bibliography points to more detailed scholarly treatments of these topics. About the authors ------------------ "David DeVorkin is curator of the history of astronomy and the space sciences at the National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution . . . . [also author of] 'Beyond earth: mapping the universe' and 'Henry Norris Russell: dean of American astronomers'. "Robert W. Smith is professor of history and past chair of the department of history and classics at the University of Alberta, and formerly a member of staff at the National Air and Space Musem. His books include the award-winning 'The space telescope, a study of NASA science, technology, and politics' and he has closely followed Hubble's history for over twenty years. "Elizabeth Kessler was a Guggenheim post-doctoral fellow at the NASM during the writing of this work and is a graduate student in the history of culture program at the University of Chicago where she is completing a dissertation on the aesthetics of Hubble images." --p.189