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Back Hubble Primary Mirror

Hubble Primary Mirror


Date: 06 June 1984
Satellite: Hubble
Depicts: Primary Mirror at Perkin-Elmer
Copyright: NASA

Workers study Hubble's main, eight-foot (2.4 m) mirror. Hubble, like all telescopes, plays a kind of pinball game with light to force it to go where scientists need it to go. When light enters Hubble, it reflects off the main mirror and strikes a second, smaller mirror. The light bounces back again, this time through a two-foot (0.6 m) hole in the center of the main mirror, beyond which Hubble's science instruments wait to capture it. In this photo, the hole is covered up.
Last Update: 1 September 2019
19-Apr-2026 12:01 UT

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