王 振 东 哈勃空间望远镜（ Hubble Space Telescope ）是以天文学家哈勃为名，在轨道上环绕著地球的望远镜，由美国宇航局和欧洲航天局共同管理。其位置在地球的大气层之上，所以获得了地基望远镜所没有的好处：影像不会受到大气湍流的扰动，视相度很高，又没有大气散射造成的背景光，还能观测会被臭氧层吸收的紫外线。 哈勃空间望远镜于 1990 年发射之后，已经成为天文上最重要的仪器，填补了地面观测的缺口，帮助天文学家解决了许多根本问题，对天文物理有了更深入的认识 。 哈勃望远镜拍摄到了许多很美妙的涡旋星系照片，让我们认识到在宇宙中还存在那么多姿多态的星系。现将笔者收集的一些涡旋星系照片，列出来供大家欣赏。哈勃望远镜所拍摄到的每张远处的太空图像，实际上是 x x x x 光年前的，现在应又该有变化了，但是这些涡旋星系图像己说明涡旋状态是星系存在的常态之一。 注： Vortex 过去曾译为“旋涡”，现根据全国自然科学名词审定委员会公布的《力学名词》，译为“涡旋”。
本周星期四，美国宇航局发言人说，哈勃望远镜将会尝试重新启动。 哈勃望远镜在九月底被迫关闭，关闭的原因是电磁信号不能成功返回地面接收站。上个星期，哈勃的管理人员使用一个18年来从未使用过的信号频率， 成功调试了一台路由器。但是一对反常信号，又将哈勃望远镜送回安全模式。 如果一切顺利，星期六的时候哈勃就能往地球发回照片。 以上翻译为概率，更多细节，在下面： NASA is once again trying to reboot the Hubble Space Telescope, agency officials said Thursday. The telescopes instruments have been shut down since the end of September, when a router that formats science data for transmission to the ground suffered an electrical failure. Last week, the telescopes managers succeeded in turning the router back on, using a backup electrical and data channel that had not been used in the 18-year life of the telescope. A pair of electrical anomalies, however, sent the telescope back into safe mode. One of the anomalies, an incorrect voltage in Hubbles Advanced Camera for Surveys, was the result of a timing problem between a pair of software routines in the camera and has been corrected, said Art Whipple, an engineer at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. The second anomaly was apparently a temporary short circuit or some other ghost electrical signal that caused the telescopes payload computer and the router to reset themselves. The payload computer handles Hubbles scientific data and commands the instruments. There was apparently no lasting harm and no fuses were blown. Events like this are not uncommon in electrical circuits that have been turned off for a long time, said Mr. Whipple, adding that we might see more. If all goes well, Hubbles main camera, the wide-field planetary camera 2, should begin sending pictures back to Earth on Saturday. Meanwhile, at Goddard, engineers are testing a spare router in the hopes that astronauts can take it to Hubble and replace the damaged unit as part of the next and last maintenance mission, which has been postponed until at least February. 上一篇博客： 今天，做了一次不成功的枪手。 http://blog.sciencenet.cn/m/user_content.aspx?id=203467 下一篇博客：钱永健领奖，真正的奠基人正忙着开货车。 http://blog.sciencenet.cn/m/user_content.aspx?id=203484
标签: 哈勃望远镜
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