May 10, 2009
A View Back Into Time
400 Years After Galileo's Telescope, Hubble And Other Observatories Reveal The Universe's Distant Reaches
-
The Hubble Space Telescope's view of Arp 272, a remarkable collision between two spiral galaxies (NGC 6050 and IC 1179) that is part of the Hercules Galaxy Cluster. (AP Photo/NASA/ESA)
-
Photo Essay Galaxies Collide NASA releases dramatic images from Hubble Telescope of interacting galaxies.
-
Interactive The Hubble Get an inside look at the Hubble space telescope and see some extraordinary images taken through its eye.
As if the sky were calling it, the Space Shuttle Atlantis made its slow and stately way across a perfect Florida dawn to the launch pad.
Tomorrow, if all goes well, it will be making its way toward the Hubble Space Telescope one last time, to repair it, upgrade it, and give it at least another five years of life - to install a new camera that will allow us to see even more spectacular pictures from even farther into deep space.
Call it celestial symmetry - the mission is taking place 400 years after Galileo first turned a telescope toward the night sky.
At the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, Teichner was shown one of only two of Galileo's telescopes that survive, never before allowed out of Italy. It will be on display at the Institute until September.
Galileo didn't invent the telescope, but the ones he started making in 1609 - as primitive as they were - literally changed the world.
"Doesn't look like much, does it?" said Derrick Pitts, chief astronomer at the Franklin.
"When he used this telescope to look at the night sky, to see Jupiter or Saturn or Venus, no one else in the history of people on this planet had ever looked at this stuff up close.
"It's what he saw that was so revolutionary, so contrary to the teachings of the Catholic Church," Pitts said.
Galileo and his telescope proved that the Earth and the planets revolve around the Sun, not the other way around.
(Franklin Institute)
His observations were heretical, said Neil Degrasse Tyson, an astrophysicist with the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. "In fact, you can consider the telescope to be the most heretical scientific instrument that ever was.
"Galileo got in big trouble, big trouble," said Tyson. In fact, he spent the rest of his life under house arrest.
But telescopes kept getting better, and bigger.
"The rise of telescopes is the rise of who had the biggest telescope of the day," said Tyson, "and so when I think of the next, sort of important telescope, I think of William Herschel and his telescopes."
Nearly two hundred years after Galileo, Herschel used a 48-inch mirror to collect light. The bigger the mirror, the more you can see. So in the telescope arms race, size matters.
In the U.S. in the 20th century, first came a telescope with a 60-inch mirror (Mt. Wilson, California, in 1908). Then, 100 inches (Mt. Wilson, 1917). Then 200 inches (Mt. Palomar, Calif., 1949). Then nearly 400 inches (Keck, Mauna Kea, Hawaii, 1993).
But they all have one big problem: The Earth's atmosphere. It reeks havoc on lightwaves.
Tyson said when a light beam traveling across the cosmos hits the atmosphere, "it gets bumped and jiggled and wiggled and smeared, and by the time it hits your detectors, it's this glowing smudge."
(AP Photo/NASA)
The idea was to see into space without distortion. Trouble was, Hubble's mirror was made wrong.
In an amazing nail-biter of a mission, astronauts fixed the billion-and-a-half dollar telescope, and the world saw pictures Galileo couldn't even have imagined.
Four hundred years ago, before photography, he could only draw what he saw. Science and art have always intersected in the realm of telescopes.
In the 1920s, Russell Porter, considered the father of amateur astronomy in the U.S., created the Porter Garden Telescope. Less than twenty were made. One is in the Smithsonian.
Fred Schleipman wanted his own, passionately, and set out to copy an original.
"I was smitten by this marriage of art, beauty, to wonderful mechanical design," Schleipman said. "When you see the modern day telescopes, they do wonderful things, but they're not beautiful."
For Schleipman, who taught engineering at Dartmouth and designed instruments used in brain surgery, getting his hands on a Porter Garden Telescope was like pursuing the Holy Grail. It took him more than thirty years.
Duplicating it required redesigning every part. Each telescope is hand-made.
Schleipman described the completion of the first telescope as similar to having his first child.
To amortize the cost, Schleipman and his son, Russ, a photographer, decided to go into business.
At $37,000 apiece, they've sold twelve. Such is the zeal of the amateur astronomer.
Just based on data from Astronomy Club membership, there are at least half a million amateurs out there, worldwide, their telescopes exponentially more powerful than Galileo's - but nothing compared to the biggies.
Mario Livio, an astrophysicist with the Hubble Space Telescope Science Institute at Johns Hopkins University, said Galileo's telescope helped him see things "maybe 50 times better than the human eye.
"But by the 1900s, maybe, telescopes on the ground could see maybe 100,000 times better than the human eye can see," Livio said. "Hubble sees, I would say, about, maybe, ten billion times better."
Which is how it's managed to revolutionize astronomy during its 19 years in space.
First, it told us the age of the universe: 13.7 billion years old. But that was just the beginning.
In the 1920s, astronomer Edwin Hubble discovered that our universe is expanding. It was thought the expansion was slowing down, until the Hubble Space Telescope (named for the astronomer) proved otherwise.
"Instead, we discovered that the expansion is speeding up," said Livio. "There is something that propels this to accelerate, and this something is the thing we call dark energy. And it is some 70 percent of the total energy of the universe.
"In terms of the achievements of Hubble, then I would say perhaps the number one achievement has to be [the discovery of] this dark energy."
The Hubble also revealed that there are massive black holes in the centers of galaxies.
But for armchair astronomers, perhaps the most astonishing thing Hubble has been able to show us on television, downloaded onto our computers, is the evolution of the universe.
"As you look out in space, you look back in time," Tyson said. "We see the universe not as it is, but as it once was.
"The universe is like this huge timeline, and the telescope is your time machine. From its orbit 340 miles above the Earth, the Hubble is seeing images of the universe hundreds of millions, even billions of years old, because it takes light from those images that long to travel through space.
"So the next step from the Hubble telescope is a telescope specifically tuned to observe galaxies being born in the earliest moments of the universe."
"The first galaxies appeared, you know, when the universe was only a couple of hundred million years old," said Livio. "We want to see those, and the James Webb will be able to see that."
The James Webb Space Telescope is due to be launched in 2014, around the time the Hubble is expected to go dark for good.
"This telescope is going to be very far away from Earth, about a million miles from Earth," said Livio. "It will be on the side of the Earth that is away from the sun."
That's right: A million miles away, peering at light invisible to the human eye. The size of a tennis court, it will be a hundred times more powerful even than the Hubble.
Four hundred years ago, Galileo, with a telescope that looks like a toy, revealed the truth about man's place in the universe - we were not the center of all things - and it was considered heresy.
Today's telescopes and tomorrow's tantalize us with the possibility of the most stunning revelation of all:
"It would certainly be great to discover intelligent life out there," said Livio, "and that will come eventually from telescopes, yes. I mean, this is going to be incredible, that we will find that we are not alone in this universe."
For more info:
Russ Schleipman
66 Partridge Hill
Norwich, VT 05055
(617) 292-5155
© MMIX, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Add a Comment See all 21 Comments
- It is sad to see the end of journalism and professional standards.
"It reeks havoc on lightwaves."
The correct term is "wreaks".
CBS, you could obviously use a good editor. I am available for hire. - Reply to this comment
- Culture_Warrior_in_09
Your last post did nothing more than illustrate the fact that a number of religious myths have their own associated traditions.
What makes yours right and theirs wrong? - Reply to this comment
- brianbwb-2009
The anti-Christ (false messiah) will merely have to FOOL the Jewish people, and the Muslims for that matter.
The Muslims are waiting on their "mahdi" (The Islamic version of the Messiah), and the Jews who rejected the Messiah (Jesus Christ) the first time He was on earth are looking for their messiah. Both of these religions will fall victim to the deceptions of the anti-Christ, which will most likely be the mahdi, since the description of the mahdi in the Quran MIRRORS the Biblical description of the coming anti-Christ.
Stay tuned! - Reply to this comment
- The pictures the hubble telescope is taking of God's Magnificent Universe/Creation are awesome. It is a thrill to be living in such a time where technology allows us to see these things.
- Reply to this comment
- By removing God from the classroom we now have a B*a*s*t*a*r*d for a president.
Posted by willyhenail
Remember y'all voted in GWB - the worst prez of all time while God was not in the classroom. - Reply to this comment
- Now we have a president who is being promoted as the Chosen One or Messiah and we think that is no big deal.
I would look out for the Real One if I were you.
Posted by dovestar
Make your time more meaningful, try looking out for the dictionary.
"mes·si·ah Pronunciation: \m?-?s?-?\
Function: noun
Etymology: Hebrew m?sh?ah? & Aramaic m?sh?h??, literally, anointed
Date:
1560
1capitalized a: the expected king and deliverer of the Jews b: jesus
2: a professed or accepted leader of some hope or cause"
Seeing as how we know that President Obama is not Jewish, that eliminates definition #1, but #2 is an accurate description of any president.
The really funny part is how the racists and the neos (little difference) are the only ones using the term. - Reply to this comment
- I suggest we send Richard Chaney out in space. I would like to know why there is never a comment section when the stories involve Richard Chaney...does this guy still have power over the networks,,,,as Sarah would say...."You bettcha"...wimps
Posted by cattiej at 6:51 PM : May 10, 2009
LOL Good one! Send a COWARD and a LOW LIFE out into space...someone who couldn't and wouldn't serve his country in a Uniform? LOL Yeah right... course he WOULD finally be out of our way and out of sight. On second thought, I'll buy into this... lets send Darth out there... just NO return ticket!! - Reply to this comment
- By removing God from the public square, we have also removed His moral values from our society. This creates a void which must be filled with something. However, instead of admitting that we need God's moral authority, we have tried to substitute our own deterrents, like metal detectors and other security apparatus. Ask the 32 killed at Virginia Tech. Ask the students killed at Columbine. Let's face facts, people, substitutes for God's moral law just don't work.
Now we have a president who is being promoted as the Chosen One or Messiah and we think that is no big deal.
I would look out for the Real One if I were you.
Posted by dovestar at 5:02 PM : May 10, 2009
As someone who was THERE in 1962 and who was involved with the decision that removed the Preachers who were teaching "Equal but different" to the School Kids in Alabama, sometimes with an escort of men dressed in Sheets, the removal was and will always be a great thing. Today no kid is subjected to such things and America is a better place for it. - Reply to this comment
- I would look out for the Real One if I were you.
Posted by dovestar at 5:02 PM : May 10, 2009
Oh please. What is it about any science piece that brings out the religion nuts? - Reply to this comment
- "OK, smartie. Answer this question: Before June 25, 1962, when prayer was officially removed from the public school classroom, how many students were shot to death in the classroom?..." Posted by dovestar
And back before then when prayer was in schools, how many "Black" people were lynched in America? How many native Americans died from genocide? How many people died in unnecessary wars?
How many women were tortured and burned to death, because they were accused by so-called religionists of being witches?
Hey, as long as we are trying to connect unrelated events, how many died in nuclear explosions just around 15 years before prayer was removed from schools?
Save the hypocrisy for a willing sucker. - Reply to this comment
- "OK, smartie. Answer this question: Before June 25, 1962, when prayer was officially removed from the public school classroom, how many students were shot to death in the classroom?..." Posted by dovestar
And back before then when prayer was in schools, how many "Black" people were lynched in America? How many native Americans died from genocide? How many people died in unnecessary wars?
How many women were tortured and burned to death, because they were accused by so-called religionists of being witches?
Hey, as long as we are trying to connect unrelated events, how many died in nuclear explosions just around 15 years before prayer was removed from schools?
Save the hypocrisy for a willing sucker. - Reply to this comment
- I suggest we send Richard Chaney out in space. I would like to know why there is never a comment section when the stories involve Richard Chaney...does this guy still have power over the networks,,,,as Sarah would say...."You bettcha"...wimps
- Reply to this comment
- If the point is that the Hubble telescope has broadened mankind's knowledge---I agree.
But, just as in Galileo's time, we must see to it, that the bulk of the knowledge derived from the telescope IS made available to the public, and NOT just 'bits and pieces' !
That---literally---keep us in the dark! And, keep us technologically years behind where we should be! - Reply to this comment
- Well, well, well, if it isn't another Madalyn Murray O'Hairbrained coming up with a 400 year old error to smear the Church with.
OK, smartie. Answer this question: Before June 25, 1962, when prayer was officially removed from the public school classroom, how many students were shot to death in the classroom?
ANSWER: NONE
By removing God from the public square, we have also removed His moral values from our society. This creates a void which must be filled with something. However, instead of admitting that we need God's moral authority, we have tried to substitute our own deterrents, like metal detectors and other security apparatus. Ask the 32 killed at Virginia Tech. Ask the students killed at Columbine. Let's face facts, people, substitutes for God's moral law just don't work.
Now we have a president who is being promoted as the Chosen One or Messiah and we think that is no big deal.
I would look out for the Real One if I were you. - Reply to this comment
- Jury is still out on 'dark energy'. As it is on an accelerating expansion of the universe.
Even the so called 'age of the universe' is not that well established. Current values being
reported are likely minimums.
In fact, there is still more than lingering doubt about 'dark matter' and even what is popularly
called 'black holes'. Massive condensed matter is no doubt -- but the Hollywood version of
black holes is just that. - Reply to this comment
- "We can see the distant reaches of the universe?
Oh really??,,,And what if this new 2014 telescope sees well beyond
what we state are the distant reaches of the universe?
The only intresting question is whether The universe is finite or is not,,,
Man can imagine a finite one but not an infinite one,,,so
we'll go with a finite universe,,,,
I guess all these expanding suns, galaxies, planets, black holes
and meteors will eventually bump into the outer confining wall of the
universe and bounce back to a pin size ready for the next big bang.
That's good enough for me.
Of second intreast is "dark energy"?,,,,Is it something of itself within
the near vacuumn of space or does it eminate from the expanding
masses once their pull of gravity is diffused?
Whatever it is it certainly doesn't like company. - Reply to this comment
- "It's what he saw that was so revolutionary, so contrary to the teachings of the Catholic Church," Pitts said.
--------------------------------
Yes, and rather than blindly believe and be fearful of the unknown, why not try to understand the unknown? Why not use our brains to understand the natural world around us? - Reply to this comment
- What a great story! The video of this interview would be great to share with my kids. The printed version does not do it justice...Thanks!
- Reply to this comment
- We are glad to be connected to CBS News. Is it possible to download video broadcasts of Sunday Morning for use in public education classes? If not, can the video be purchased?
- Reply to this comment
- Of all the news ,I get the shivers when I read this!!!! But if from all predicted sources a meteor or comet DOES smash into our planet in 2012, what then?
- Reply to this comment
