
The NASA Hubble Space Telescope released a unique ultraviolet image of Jupiter on November 2, 2023. The image is a color composite of ultraviolet wavelengths. It shows different storm patterns on the gas giant, including the Great Red Spot, which turns blue in the ultraviolet view.
The Hubble Space Telescope sees primarily visible light, as well as some infrared and ultraviolet radiation. The telescope has made other major contributions to science, including:
- Helping to pin down the age of the universe
- Discovering two moons of Pluto, Nix and Hydra
- Helping to determine the rate at which the universe is expanding
- Exploring planets around other stars
Yes, the Hubble Space Telescope can see ultraviolet light. Ultraviolet light is absorbed by the atmosphere and can only be seen from space. The Hubble Space Telescope was designed as a general purpose observatory to explore the universe in visible, ultraviolet, and infrared wavelengths.
The Hubble Space Telescope’s ultraviolet-observing capabilities allow astronomers to study the short, high-energy wavelengths of light beyond what the human eye can see. For example, the Hubble Space Telescope has created a high-resolution ultraviolet-light survey of star-forming galaxies in the local Universe.
The Hubble Space Telescope can detect light in the range of 1.15 * 10-7 m to 2.0 * 10-6 m. Its primary capabilities are in the ultraviolet and visible parts of the spectrum from 0.1 to 0.8 microns. It can also observe a small portion of the infrared spectrum from 0.8 to 2.5 microns.
The Hubble Space Telescope can look in any direction. It has made more than one million observations, including detailed pictures of the birth and death of stars, galaxies billions of light years away, and comet pieces crashing into Jupiter’s atmosphere
The Hubble Space Telescope can see out to a distance of several billions of light-years. The farthest observation that Hubble has made to date is of the galaxy GN-z11, which is located about 13.4 billion light-years away.
Because light can only travel so fast (299,792,458 meters a second), Hubble is effectively looking back in time when viewing very distant objects. For example, if the galaxy is 1,000 light-years away, you’re seeing it as it was 1,000 years ago.
Yes, the Hubble Space Telescope can be seen from Earth. It can be seen with the naked eye if it passes close enough overhead, it’s relatively dark, and the skies are clear enough. It appears as a fast moving spec of light. You can see even more with a telescope.
Hubble is best seen from areas of the Earth that are between the latitudes of 28.5 degrees north and 28.5 degrees south. This is because Hubble’s orbit is inclined to the equator at 28.5 degrees.
Hubble is less bright than the ISS and has a much lower orbital inclination, so it cannot be observed from high temperate latitudes
Here are some more facts about the Hubble Space Telescope:
- It’s about the size of a large school bus and weighs 24,500 pounds.
- It has two 25-foot solar panels that gather energy from the sun.
- It orbits the Earth at a cruising speed of 17,000 miles per hour, and takes 15 minutes to rotate 90 degrees.
- It orbits about 340 miles (547 kilometers) above Earth, on a path inclined 28.5 degrees to the equator.
- It takes 95 minutes to complete one orbit.
- It transmits about 120 gigabytes of science data every week.
- It has made more than 1.5 million observations since its mission began in 1990.
- It has orbited Earth over 175,200 times in its 30 years of operation.
- There have been five missions to upgrade the Hubble Space Telescope after its launch.
- It has peered back into the very distant past, to locations more than 13.4 billion light years from Earth.
- It has recorded some of the most detailed visible light images, allowing a deep view into space.
- It showed that some of the numerous distant, faint clouds of light in the universe were actually entire galaxies.

This sure deserves a big WOW! 😀
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I am prompted here to wonder about laser capabilities, especially wars.
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