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- ORG:News on the Hubble - before the launch
-
- The U.S. Hubble Space Telescope is scheduled for launch aboard the
- space shuttle Discovery sometime this year.
-
- Once out in orbit, 368 miles above the earth and far from the
- distorting effects of the atmosphere, Hubble's 94.5 inch mirror will
- make images ten times sharper than any earth-based telescope.
-
- "For astronomers, it will be like the receipt of the Bible," says
- John Bachall of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton.
-
- Hubble will focus on stars twenty times fainter than any seen with
- existing telescopes.
-
- Hubble will also examine areas that appear vacant from earth to see
- if they are populated with faint stars. It will also search for planets
- outside our solar system.
-
- "And I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all
- things that are done under heaven: this sore travail hath God given to
- the sons of man to be exercised therewith." Ecclesiastes 1:13
-