EVENS@UTORPHYS.BITNET (02/11/90)
Re: The Hubble Telescope First let me make clear that I REALLY want to see this baby fly. (I'd pile on some more REALLIES but I think you get the point.) But much of the VISIBLE light astronomy that it was supposed to do has been superceded by ground based equipment: compensating computer guided mirror arrays and such. Don't forget, the mirror in Hubble is quite modest by current standards. It has to be to fit in shuttle. NON-visible light astronomy, however, is also riding on Hubble. And that could be more important than anything we ever get out of it in the visible parts. The Earth's atmosphere is totaly opaque in many frequencies, and you CAN'T do astronomy in those from the ground. And many of the most interesting and exotic (and therefor theory testing) objects radiate most strongly in only just these frequencies. If I had some money (sigh) and was allowed (sigh) I sure would put some of it into the Hubble Telescope. Dan Evens