Building the Hubble Space Telescope

Dr. Robert O’Dell—Vanderbilt University, Department of Physics and Astronomy

Thursday - April 12, 2012 8PM

Chemistry-Physics Building Room 155

When the Hubble Space Telescope was launched in 1990 it was the product of 19 years of effort by American and European scientists and the space agencies of the USA (NASA) and Europe. Its great success today makes it seem like it must have been easy to build, but it wasn't. I will talk about how this observatory was conceived, sold to the scientific community and the congress, designed, and con-structed. It was a lot of work, but worth it.

Tonight’s Kentucky SkyTalk is part of an ongoing series. These are presented by the UK Department of Physics and Astronomy, and the MacAdam Student Observatory. Held every 2nd Thursday of the month, they are always free and open to the public.