Myth vs Reality: Hubble’s Location in Space

 

Produced by the Space Telescope Science Institute’s Office of Public Outreach.

 

All images, illustrations, and videos courtesy of NASA, ESA, and STScI except:

 

·       Ground-based image of Carina Nebula © R. Gendler, J.-E. Ovaldsen, C. Feron, and C. Thone

·       Twinkling star movie courtesy of Applied Optics Group (Imperial College), William Herschel Telescope

·       Gran Telescopio Canarias photo courtesy of Victor R. Ruiz

·       M51 image from Gran Telescopio Canarias courtesy of IAC/GTC

·       Taurus constellation drawing from Firmamentum Sobiescianum sive Uranographia by Johannes Hevelius, courtesy of the United States Naval Observatory

 

Written by Vanessa Thomas and John Stoke

Designed by Marc Lussier and John Godfrey 

Music courtesy of Associated Production Music

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 Top left, a black and white picture of a minotaur. Top right, a color picture of Hubble telescope. 

Text, MYTH versus REALITY 

Myth side 

Text, The Hubble Space Telescope can photograph celestial objects better than other telescopes because it travels closer to them. 

Reality side 

Text, Hubble does not travel out to the objects that it photographs. Hubble makes its observations while orbiting Earth. Hubble produces clearer images than ground-based telescopes because it is above Earth's atmosphere, which blurs our view of objects in space.