By: Ben Moon, Manager of Space and Technology
2009 is the International Year of Science, but did you also know that 2009 is the International Year of Astronomy as well? It certainly is, and McWane is not shying away from a celebration or two.
Sunday, February 15th was our first big celebration as it is Galileo’s birthday (he’d be 445 years old if he were still around) and it marks 400 years since Galileo first used a telescope to study the heavens.
We’ve chosen this day to reveal brand new mural-sized images from NASA’s great observatories as well. The images are of the spiral galaxy Messier 101 and were taken by the Hubble Space Telescope, Spitzer Space Telescope, and Chandra X-ray Observatory. These space-floating, light-collecting instruments are champions of modern technology and they’re a far cry from the simple telescopes that Galileo first used.
The first practical telescope was invented in the Netherlands in 1608 and wasn’t much more than a spyglass. Galileo learned of this new invention and in 1609, he immediately began building a 3x telescope of his own. However, Galileo’s intentions were different than everyone else’s. He was going to point his telescope up.
The things Galileo saw through those lenses ushered in a new era of understanding about the world we live in and the universe outside. We learned our place in space. The fascination of space, along with the mission to see further and clearer remains just as strong today with plans for new space-born and moon-mounted telescopes to see into the deepest parts of the known universe.
The images we are receiving from our current technology are nothing to sneeze at though. While Hubble takes beautiful images in the visible spectrum, the Spitzer Space Telescope peers into infrared spectrum and the Chandra Observatory’s iridium mirrors observe X-rays. On Sunday, February 15th at McWane, you’ll get to see brand-new, spectacular images from all 3 telescopes, as well as a composite image from all 3 of the Messier 101 galaxy. It’s like seeing the galaxy with your eyes, night vision goggles and X-ray vision all at once!
The unveiling of these images will at 3:00 p.m. on Sunday, February 15th with the Birmingham Astronomical Society on hand with their sun-observing telescopes to help celebrate the occasion.
Additional information about the Hubble Space Telescope is available at http://hubblesite.org/. Additional information about the Spitzer Space Telescope is available at http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/. Additional information about the Chandra X-ray Observatory is available at http://chandra.harvard.edu/.
Contributor Profile:
2009 is the International Year of Science, but did you also know that 2009 is the International Year of Astronomy as well? It certainly is, and McWane is not shying away from a celebration or two.
Sunday, February 15th was our first big celebration as it is Galileo’s birthday (he’d be 445 years old if he were still around) and it marks 400 years since Galileo first used a telescope to study the heavens.
We’ve chosen this day to reveal brand new mural-sized images from NASA’s great observatories as well. The images are of the spiral galaxy Messier 101 and were taken by the Hubble Space Telescope, Spitzer Space Telescope, and Chandra X-ray Observatory. These space-floating, light-collecting instruments are champions of modern technology and they’re a far cry from the simple telescopes that Galileo first used.
The first practical telescope was invented in the Netherlands in 1608 and wasn’t much more than a spyglass. Galileo learned of this new invention and in 1609, he immediately began building a 3x telescope of his own. However, Galileo’s intentions were different than everyone else’s. He was going to point his telescope up.
The things Galileo saw through those lenses ushered in a new era of understanding about the world we live in and the universe outside. We learned our place in space. The fascination of space, along with the mission to see further and clearer remains just as strong today with plans for new space-born and moon-mounted telescopes to see into the deepest parts of the known universe.
The images we are receiving from our current technology are nothing to sneeze at though. While Hubble takes beautiful images in the visible spectrum, the Spitzer Space Telescope peers into infrared spectrum and the Chandra Observatory’s iridium mirrors observe X-rays. On Sunday, February 15th at McWane, you’ll get to see brand-new, spectacular images from all 3 telescopes, as well as a composite image from all 3 of the Messier 101 galaxy. It’s like seeing the galaxy with your eyes, night vision goggles and X-ray vision all at once!
The unveiling of these images will at 3:00 p.m. on Sunday, February 15th with the Birmingham Astronomical Society on hand with their sun-observing telescopes to help celebrate the occasion.
Additional information about the Hubble Space Telescope is available at http://hubblesite.org/. Additional information about the Spitzer Space Telescope is available at http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/. Additional information about the Chandra X-ray Observatory is available at http://chandra.harvard.edu/.
Contributor Profile:
Ben Moon is the Manager of Space and Technology at McWane. He is a total geek and loves space, shiny things, technology, gadgets, video games, sci-fi and zombies. He is married and is about to have his first kid! His favorite movie is The Rocketeer. He wishes he had telekinesis.
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