The Hubble Top Ten List
After a rocky start (remember those "Hubble Troubles" headlines?), the Space Telescope and the scientists who rely on it, have amassed an impressive record of astronomical achievement. In 1995, Hubble program and project scientists marked the fifth anniversary of the telescope's mission by compiling the following "top ten" list of Hubble discoveries:
Offered the first conclusive evidence for the
existence of immense black holes, millions or billions of
times the mass of Earth's sun. (Douglas Duncan of Chicago's
Adler Planetarium -- 187K/18 sec. AIFF or WAV)
Showed that the universe might be much younger than
had been previously thought. This was accomplished by
calculating the universe's expansion rate based on an
accurate Hubble distance measurement to a remote galaxy.
Gave the first direct visual evidence that the
universe is evolving as predicted in Big Bang cosmology, by
resolving the shapes of the farthest galaxies ever seen.
Discovered that quasars, very distant and remarkably
bright objects, are even more mysterious than commonly
thought because many do not dwell in the cores of galaxies,
but are isolated in space.
Suggested that dark matter in the universe is more
exotic than previously thought, by finding that nature
doesn't make enough of the extremely small Red Dwarf stars
that were once a leading candidate for the universe's
"missing mass."
Supported the Big Bang theory by refining estimates of
the amount of deuterium in space, an element created in the
initial cosmic fireball that gave birth to the universe.
Solved the mystery of intergalactic clouds of hydrogen
by showing that they are really gigantic halos of galaxies.
Implied that planets, and presumably life, might be
abundant in the universe by discovering disks of dust that
might be embryonic planetary systems around young stars.
Provided important details and surprising findings of
the spectacular collisions of comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 with
Jupiter last year.
Revealed dynamic weather changes on nearly all the
planets with a clarity once attainable only with spacecraft
flybys. Scientists found that most planets' atmospheres
are much more active than previously believed, and the
ability of Hubble to 'revisit' the planets allows frequent
monitoring similar to Earth weather satellites.
