WEBVTT FILE 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:00.734 [Music Plays] 2 00:00:00.734 --> 00:00:24.124 ERIN: Hi, Facebook. 3 00:00:24.124 --> 00:00:26.226 We're live from NASA Goddard's Space Flight Center. 4 00:00:26.226 --> 00:00:31.531 I'm Erin Kisliuk and you are live in 360 at the Hubble 5 00:00:31.531 --> 00:00:34.835 Space Telescope Operations Control Center. 6 00:00:34.835 --> 00:00:35.669 Take a look around. 7 00:00:35.669 --> 00:00:38.906 This place is the heart, soul, and the brains of the Hubble 8 00:00:38.906 --> 00:00:43.243 Space Telescope who launched 28 years ago today. 9 00:00:43.243 --> 00:00:47.080 Speaking of brains, we've got a couple of pretty smart 10 00:00:47.080 --> 00:00:50.250 folks here to answer your questions so send them all in to 11 00:00:50.250 --> 00:00:53.854 the comments section below so we can answer them during the show 12 00:00:53.854 --> 00:00:55.856 and even a few after it's ended. 13 00:00:55.856 --> 00:00:59.927 So without further ado, we've got Deputy Project Manager 14 00:00:59.927 --> 00:01:00.527 Jim Jeletic. 15 00:01:00.527 --> 00:01:01.595 JIM: Hi, Erin. 16 00:01:01.595 --> 00:01:02.529 ERIN: Hey, Jim. 17 00:01:02.529 --> 00:01:03.697 Thanks so much for being here. 18 00:01:03.697 --> 00:01:04.965 JIM: Thanks for having me. 19 00:01:04.965 --> 00:01:08.702 ERIN: So, Hubble is such an iconic, iconic mission 20 00:01:08.702 --> 00:01:10.304 but it's not so young anymore. 21 00:01:10.304 --> 00:01:11.004 How's Hubble doing? 22 00:01:11.004 --> 00:01:13.774 (1:09) JIM: Well, science-wise it is at the peak of its 23 00:01:13.774 --> 00:01:15.042 scientific capability. 24 00:01:15.042 --> 00:01:15.909 It's been doing great. 25 00:01:15.909 --> 00:01:19.279 In fact, this year we had more papers published on its 26 00:01:19.279 --> 00:01:21.882 discoveries than ever in its 28 year history. 27 00:01:21.882 --> 00:01:24.184 And as far as the spacecraft is concerned, you 28 00:01:24.184 --> 00:01:26.553 know, even with all those parts that are on it that have been 29 00:01:26.553 --> 00:01:30.590 flying in the harsh environment of space for 28 years, we still 30 00:01:30.590 --> 00:01:32.659 have redundancy in all of its critical systems. 31 00:01:32.659 --> 00:01:35.128 We're hopeful that we can continue to make these 32 00:01:35.128 --> 00:01:38.298 groundbreaking observations well into the next decade. 33 00:01:38.298 --> 00:01:39.800 ERIN: Into the next decade? 34 00:01:39.800 --> 00:01:44.004 So, when Hubble was launched it had a life expectancy of about 35 00:01:44.004 --> 00:01:45.339 15 years. 36 00:01:45.339 --> 00:01:47.074 How have we managed to double that? 37 00:01:47.074 --> 00:01:51.044 JIM: Well, you know we had 5 servicing missions that we 38 00:01:51.044 --> 00:01:53.680 went went up on a space shuttle with astronauts and they 39 00:01:53.680 --> 00:01:57.651 repaired, replaced, and upgraded its hardware over time. 40 00:01:57.651 --> 00:02:00.220 And it's kinda like your cell phone you know when you get a 41 00:02:00.220 --> 00:02:02.956 new cell phone you get a better camera on it a higher 42 00:02:02.956 --> 00:02:05.525 resolution, you can take even better pictures. 43 00:02:05.525 --> 00:02:07.461 Well, we did that with the instruments on Hubble. 44 00:02:07.461 --> 00:02:11.331 Because of that it's at its peak of its capability and we're 45 00:02:11.331 --> 00:02:13.834 hopeful that we can continually change our fundamental 46 00:02:13.834 --> 00:02:15.836 understanding of the universe for years to come with it. 47 00:02:15.836 --> 00:02:17.304 ERIN: That sounds great. 48 00:02:17.304 --> 00:02:19.606 I just want to remind anyone just tuning in that we are at 49 00:02:19.606 --> 00:02:22.175 NASA Goddard's Space Flight Center in Hubble Space 50 00:02:22.175 --> 00:02:24.011 Telescope's Operations Control Center. 51 00:02:24.011 --> 00:02:26.980 We're in 360 so take a look around while I introduce our 52 00:02:26.980 --> 00:02:29.850 next guest we have Senior Project Scientist 53 00:02:29.850 --> 00:02:31.284 Jennifer Wiseman joining us today. 54 00:02:31.284 --> 00:02:31.952 Hi! 55 00:02:31.952 --> 00:02:32.619 JENNIFER: Hi, Erin. 56 00:02:32.619 --> 00:02:34.421 ERIN: Thank you so much for being here. 57 00:02:34.421 --> 00:02:35.155 JENNIFER: My pleasure. 58 00:02:35.155 --> 00:02:39.259 ERIN: You've been on this mission for about 11 years. 59 00:02:39.259 --> 00:02:42.462 Does Hubble still do anything or show you anything that surprises 60 00:02:42.462 --> 00:02:43.130 you? 61 00:02:43.130 --> 00:02:46.066 JENNIFER: Oh my goodness, every year Hubble 62 00:02:46.066 --> 00:02:46.733 is surprising us. 63 00:02:46.733 --> 00:02:49.669 We're looking at things with Hubble now that we didn't even 64 00:02:49.669 --> 00:02:52.139 imagine that we would be observing when it was launched 65 00:02:52.139 --> 00:02:53.407 back in 1990. 66 00:02:53.407 --> 00:02:56.343 For example, we are studying the atmospheres of 67 00:02:56.343 --> 00:03:01.581 planets outside our solar system and we recently observed light 68 00:03:01.581 --> 00:03:04.718 coming from a merger of neutron stars. 69 00:03:04.718 --> 00:03:08.522 This event also created gravitational waves and these 70 00:03:08.522 --> 00:03:11.358 are the kind of phenomena we didn't even imagine decades 71 00:03:11.358 --> 00:03:11.525 ago. 72 00:03:11.558 --> 00:03:12.893 ERIN: That's amazing. 73 00:03:12.893 --> 00:03:16.763 And I hear Hubble sent us something amazing for its own 74 00:03:16.763 --> 00:03:17.664 anniversary. 75 00:03:17.664 --> 00:03:19.332 Can we talk about this image here? 76 00:03:19.332 --> 00:03:22.436 JENNIFER: We have this great image of the 77 00:03:22.436 --> 00:03:23.103 Lagoon Nebula. 78 00:03:23.103 --> 00:03:28.642 So this is a region of gas and dust that's being churned up by 79 00:03:28.642 --> 00:03:30.510 star formation. 80 00:03:30.510 --> 00:03:35.849 You can see a lot of features like pillars and clumps of gas. 81 00:03:35.849 --> 00:03:39.419 It's lit up because one of the stars that has recently formed 82 00:03:39.419 --> 00:03:40.954 is a monster star. 83 00:03:40.954 --> 00:03:43.590 It's about 200 thousand times brighter than our sun. 84 00:03:43.590 --> 00:03:48.061 And it's ionizing the gas, it's creating these structures, its 85 00:03:48.061 --> 00:03:52.566 winds and radiation are carving out these various pillars and 86 00:03:52.566 --> 00:03:56.069 globules and so we like to think of this as kind of a 87 00:03:56.069 --> 00:03:56.736 stellar nursery. 88 00:03:56.736 --> 00:03:58.305 ERIN: That's amazing. 89 00:03:58.305 --> 00:04:01.775 So are these two different like parts of the nebula? 90 00:04:01.775 --> 00:04:02.909 Why do they look so different? 91 00:04:02.909 --> 00:04:05.278 JENNIFER: So you see two images here, but they are 92 00:04:05.278 --> 00:04:06.980 actually the same place. 93 00:04:06.980 --> 00:04:11.318 They are both the same region of the Lagoon Nebula, but they are 94 00:04:11.318 --> 00:04:14.721 looking at it with different kinds of light so Hubble can see 95 00:04:14.721 --> 00:04:17.491 both visible light like our eyes can see and that's what we can 96 00:04:17.491 --> 00:04:21.661 see here on the left and also infrared light which is what you 97 00:04:21.661 --> 00:04:23.163 see here on the right. 98 00:04:23.163 --> 00:04:26.266 And so infrared light we can actually see through a lot of 99 00:04:26.266 --> 00:04:30.604 the dusty veil in front of and within the nebula. 100 00:04:30.604 --> 00:04:35.208 You can see a lot of stars behind it you can see 101 00:04:35.208 --> 00:04:36.943 some stars within the nebula. 102 00:04:36.943 --> 00:04:39.379 And you can see these very dark globules where new smaller stars 103 00:04:39.379 --> 00:04:42.916 are still incubating so it's wonderful to have Hubble's 104 00:04:42.916 --> 00:04:45.652 panchromatic view of all these different colors. 105 00:04:45.652 --> 00:04:47.287 It gives us different information. 106 00:04:47.287 --> 00:04:48.155 ERIN: That's amazing. 107 00:04:48.155 --> 00:04:50.123 And so how far away about is this? 108 00:04:50.123 --> 00:04:55.295 JENNIFER: So the nebula is about 4.000 lightyears away. that's a 109 00:04:55.295 --> 00:04:58.031 unit of distance that we use that basically means that the 110 00:04:58.031 --> 00:05:01.401 light started its journey to us about 4,000 years ago. 111 00:05:01.401 --> 00:05:03.737 Think about what was happening on Earth at that time and that's 112 00:05:03.737 --> 00:05:05.472 when the light started traveling to us. 113 00:05:05.472 --> 00:05:08.708 ERIN: That is extremely impressive. 114 00:05:08.708 --> 00:05:11.545 For our viewers at home we are at NASA Goddard Space Flight 115 00:05:11.545 --> 00:05:14.514 Center inside the Hubble Space Telescope Operations Control 116 00:05:14.514 --> 00:05:18.151 Center and now I'm going to jump over and ask someone really cool 117 00:05:18.151 --> 00:05:19.986 to speak with me if he has a second. 118 00:05:19.986 --> 00:05:22.255 We've got systems engineer Mike Wenz. 119 00:05:22.255 --> 00:05:23.123 Hi. 120 00:05:23.123 --> 00:05:24.624 Thank you so much for being here. 121 00:05:24.624 --> 00:05:26.560 MIKE: Hi, Erin. 122 00:05:26.560 --> 00:05:28.328 You are perfectly welcome. 123 00:05:28.328 --> 00:05:30.063 ERIN: So can you tell us a little bit about what goes on in 124 00:05:30.063 --> 00:05:30.764 this room? 125 00:05:30.764 --> 00:05:32.098 MIKE: Yeah, this is actually the room where we 126 00:05:32.098 --> 00:05:33.433 control the Hubble Space Telescope. 127 00:05:33.433 --> 00:05:35.936 We'll send commands up to it and we'll also receive telemetry 128 00:05:35.936 --> 00:05:38.305 down from it so we can actually see how the instruments are 129 00:05:38.305 --> 00:05:40.407 doing and how the telescope is doing. 130 00:05:40.407 --> 00:05:44.010 In this room right here, this is where the systems engineers will 131 00:05:44.010 --> 00:05:46.079 work for various circumstances. 132 00:05:46.079 --> 00:05:48.582 This is actually where we did support the servicing missions 133 00:05:48.582 --> 00:05:51.251 that Jim talked about where we were replacing the instruments 134 00:05:51.251 --> 00:05:54.421 on Hubble that was a lot of fun working with the astronauts. 135 00:05:54.421 --> 00:05:57.557 But we use this room now mainly for two reasons one of 136 00:05:57.557 --> 00:06:00.293 them is if we have some sort of anomaly on the spacecraft which 137 00:06:00.293 --> 00:06:02.229 is when the spacecraft does something we weren't quite 138 00:06:02.229 --> 00:06:05.732 expecting and so the system engineers here try to figure out 139 00:06:05.732 --> 00:06:08.835 what's going on and why it happened and what can we do to 140 00:06:08.835 --> 00:06:10.570 make it not happen again. 141 00:06:10.570 --> 00:06:13.106 We also use this room for testing if we are going to be 142 00:06:13.106 --> 00:06:16.276 sending up new software to the instruments or new software to 143 00:06:16.276 --> 00:06:16.943 the telescope. 144 00:06:16.943 --> 00:06:19.346 We gotta make sure we test it out on the ground beforehand 145 00:06:19.346 --> 00:06:21.314 because you don't want to be testing it out 146 00:06:21.314 --> 00:06:21.982 on the spacecraft itself. 147 00:06:21.982 --> 00:06:25.318 ERIN: Ok, so trick question! 148 00:06:25.318 --> 00:06:29.923 What is something that Hubble do that would fall under that 149 00:06:29.923 --> 00:06:31.191 unexpected category? 150 00:06:31.191 --> 00:06:35.295 MIKE: One of the small anomalies that we have fairly 151 00:06:35.295 --> 00:06:38.231 recently that we have once, maybe even twice a week is there 152 00:06:38.231 --> 00:06:40.700 is instruments on the Hubble that allow us to point the 153 00:06:40.700 --> 00:06:42.002 telescope very accurately. 154 00:06:42.002 --> 00:06:45.405 To be able to take the images that Jennifer was talking about 155 00:06:45.405 --> 00:06:48.341 have to be able to point and hold the telescope extremely 156 00:06:48.341 --> 00:06:50.810 accurately in fact we have to able to focus on essentially on 157 00:06:50.810 --> 00:06:53.546 the width of a human hair held at one mile distance. 158 00:06:53.546 --> 00:06:56.483 To be able to do that is instruments that we have fine 159 00:06:56.483 --> 00:06:57.817 guidance sensors. 160 00:06:57.817 --> 00:06:59.219 They lock up on stars. 161 00:06:59.219 --> 00:07:01.588 They actually find the stars and they lock and they hold it. 162 00:07:01.588 --> 00:07:04.391 But every once in a while they'll try to lock up on a star 163 00:07:04.391 --> 00:07:07.427 and they can't do it and they send information 164 00:07:07.427 --> 00:07:08.094 down saying we can't do it. 165 00:07:08.094 --> 00:07:12.932 So we have to come in here and we find that they are actually 166 00:07:12.932 --> 00:07:17.270 lock up on single stars and that they aren't single stars but we 167 00:07:17.270 --> 00:07:18.705 don't know about it on the ground yet. 168 00:07:18.705 --> 00:07:21.574 No one on the ground can tell that these are double stars or 169 00:07:21.574 --> 00:07:24.277 binary stars and Hubble makes these discoveries when it 170 00:07:24.277 --> 00:07:25.912 actually has these anomalies. 171 00:07:25.912 --> 00:07:29.049 ERIN: That's quite the silver lining. 172 00:07:29.049 --> 00:07:29.949 So how about you? 173 00:07:29.949 --> 00:07:31.384 What is your role? 174 00:07:31.384 --> 00:07:32.752 How long have you been working with Hubble? 175 00:07:32.752 --> 00:07:34.254 MIKE: I'm a systems engineer here. 176 00:07:34.254 --> 00:07:36.256 I've actually been on Hubble for 26 years. 177 00:07:36.256 --> 00:07:39.592 I'm one of the older guys around who've been 178 00:07:39.592 --> 00:07:40.493 around here for a lot of it. 179 00:07:40.493 --> 00:07:43.697 I'm actually in charge of those fine guidance sensors and those 180 00:07:43.697 --> 00:07:46.833 are actually the instruments that I have to take care of. 181 00:07:46.833 --> 00:07:48.902 I actually am the one who gets to come in here and find all the 182 00:07:48.902 --> 00:07:51.037 double stars and variable stars that Hubble has found because 183 00:07:51.037 --> 00:07:51.705 it's had trouble. 184 00:07:51.705 --> 00:07:53.540 ERIN: That's an amazing job. 185 00:07:53.540 --> 00:07:54.808 I'll let you get back to work. 186 00:07:54.808 --> 00:07:56.142 Thank you so much for your time. 187 00:07:56.142 --> 00:07:56.810 MIKE: Thank you. 188 00:07:56.810 --> 00:07:58.511 ERIN: Alright, so we are going to start taking some of 189 00:07:58.511 --> 00:07:59.479 your questions. 190 00:07:59.479 --> 00:08:00.647 Continue to send them in. 191 00:08:00.647 --> 00:08:04.084 We're going to be taking them here and also after the show is 192 00:08:04.084 --> 00:08:06.453 over we'll be answering them in the comments section below. 193 00:08:06.453 --> 00:08:09.322 Let's see what we've got here. 194 00:08:09.322 --> 00:08:13.693 So Tia from Twitter asks: how do you deal with damages made by 195 00:08:13.693 --> 00:08:17.063 impacts from space objects on Hubble? 196 00:08:17.063 --> 00:08:18.398 That's an interesting one, do you want to take that one Jim? 197 00:08:18.398 --> 00:08:19.065 JIM: Sure. 198 00:08:19.065 --> 00:08:20.400 It's a great question we actually look for major impacts 199 00:08:20.400 --> 00:08:21.768 so that we can actually turn the telescope to be as small of 200 00:08:21.768 --> 00:08:23.103 surface area as possible so they'll avoid us if we know 201 00:08:23.103 --> 00:08:24.437 one's coming or if it's big enough. 202 00:08:24.437 --> 00:08:25.772 But for the most part it gets hit and so far I think we've 203 00:08:25.772 --> 00:08:27.107 been really lucky in that nothing has hit us that has 204 00:08:27.107 --> 00:08:28.441 caused anything really to break. 205 00:08:28.441 --> 00:08:29.809 We are going to keep our fingers crossed here for the next 206 00:08:29.809 --> 00:08:30.477 however many years. 207 00:08:30.477 --> 00:08:31.144 ERIN: Long live Hubble. 208 00:08:31.144 --> 00:08:32.479 Alright, so Dan asks: what's the furthest point in lightyears 209 00:08:32.479 --> 00:08:33.146 that Hubble has seen? 210 00:08:33.146 --> 00:08:34.481 I'll leave that to you, Jennifer. 211 00:08:34.481 --> 00:08:35.849 JENNIFER: That's a very good question, so we're trying 212 00:08:35.849 --> 00:08:40.854 to see objects in space farther and farther out, the cameras on 213 00:08:43.056 --> 00:08:49.362 Hubble have improved over the years because of these astronaut 214 00:08:49.362 --> 00:08:54.367 servicing missions we've had more sensitivities. 215 00:09:14.587 --> 00:09:18.925 So right now we're seeing emission in galaxies in the very 216 00:09:18.925 --> 00:09:25.765 distant universe that are in the process of forming more than 13 217 00:09:25.765 --> 00:09:27.033 billion lightyears away. 218 00:09:27.033 --> 00:09:30.837 So we know the universe seems to be about 13.8 billion 219 00:09:30.837 --> 00:09:36.176 years old and we're seeing these baby galaxies form within the 220 00:09:36.176 --> 00:09:39.479 first point eight of these 13.8 billion years in fact within the 221 00:09:39.479 --> 00:09:42.315 first few hundred million years we are seeing these infant 222 00:09:42.315 --> 00:09:44.084 galaxies start to form. 223 00:09:44.084 --> 00:09:47.086 And the upcoming James Webb Space Telescope will be able to 224 00:09:47.086 --> 00:09:50.623 see even farther because it has infrared capabilities and will 225 00:09:50.623 --> 00:09:54.360 be able to see even farther back into time as light travels 226 00:09:54.360 --> 00:09:57.397 through this expanding universe and gets stretched into redder 227 00:09:57.397 --> 00:09:58.898 and redder wavelengths of light. 228 00:09:58.898 --> 00:10:00.133 ERIN: Thanks. 229 00:10:00.133 --> 00:10:02.469 Alright, let's see what we've got next. 230 00:10:02.469 --> 00:10:06.739 On that same note, what has Hubble found out about the 231 00:10:06.739 --> 00:10:08.274 beginning of the universe? 232 00:10:08.274 --> 00:10:11.878 JENNIFER: Well, Hubble cannot see all the way back to 233 00:10:11.878 --> 00:10:13.046 the beginning. 234 00:10:13.046 --> 00:10:18.151 There's a time before radiation could even escape for us to see. 235 00:10:18.151 --> 00:10:19.853 But we are able to see pretty close. 236 00:10:19.853 --> 00:10:24.190 Like I said, the first point eight of the 13.8 billion year 237 00:10:24.190 --> 00:10:27.894 history of the universe and what we've learned is that galaxies 238 00:10:27.894 --> 00:10:29.863 formed early on. 239 00:10:29.863 --> 00:10:33.333 Galaxies are collections of stars and gas and dark matter. 240 00:10:33.333 --> 00:10:37.537 Stars formed early on these gravitational collections 241 00:10:37.537 --> 00:10:41.407 of material grew over time and we can now see with Hubble by 242 00:10:41.407 --> 00:10:46.179 looking far out in space, which means looking back in time, that 243 00:10:46.179 --> 00:10:49.482 galaxies were once quite small and and irregular looking and 244 00:10:49.482 --> 00:10:53.553 they merged together many times to grow into the bigger type 245 00:10:53.553 --> 00:10:55.522 galaxies like the Milky Way. 246 00:10:55.522 --> 00:10:58.658 So we've been able to see with Hubble that galaxies began 247 00:10:58.658 --> 00:11:03.096 small, they grew over time, and now we have the privilege of 248 00:11:03.096 --> 00:11:08.434 several generations of stars, massive stars, that come and go 249 00:11:08.434 --> 00:11:11.671 and that gives us heavier elements like carbon and oxygen 250 00:11:11.671 --> 00:11:13.840 things we need for planets and life. 251 00:11:13.840 --> 00:11:15.842 ERIN: Thank you so much. 252 00:11:15.842 --> 00:11:18.678 Unfortunately, I think we're going to have to get out of here 253 00:11:18.678 --> 00:11:20.246 and let these folks get back to work. 254 00:11:20.246 --> 00:11:22.815 But I want to thank you all for joining us and please continue 255 00:11:22.815 --> 00:11:23.816 to send in your questions. 256 00:11:23.816 --> 00:11:26.386 We'll get to some of them in the comments section below. 257 00:11:26.386 --> 00:11:28.888 Take one last look at the room around us before you leave and 258 00:11:28.888 --> 00:11:31.257 if you want to know anything more about Hubble you can always 259 00:11:31.257 --> 00:11:35.695 find on nasa.gov/hubble or NASA Social Media @NASAHubble. 260 00:11:35.695 --> 00:11:37.063 Thank you both so much for being here. 261 00:11:37.063 --> 00:11:42.068 Let's get on out of here. 262 00:11:47.674 --> 00:11:52.845 Thanks, Mike! 263 00:11:52.845 --> 00:11:57.850 [Music Fades]