HST Achievements
So, what are the Hubble Space Telescope’s greatest achievements since its 1990 launch? As a summary of some of the many HST achievements:
- Determine the rate the Universe is expanding, and that expansion rate is accelerating
- The range of the age of the Universe
- Discovery and confirmation of galactic nuclei supermassive black holes
- Discovery and observations of proto-planetary disks – called proplyds – in the Great Orion Nebula
- Stellar systems forming, and planets around other stars
- Observations of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9’s collision with Jupiter
- Solar System observations
- The Universe is thick with galaxies
As you can see, the Hubble Space Telescope has had a rich — and sometimes troubling — history.