Space awareness event marks 25 years of Hubble telescope

NASHIK: A space awareness programme for children and youths marked the 25th anniversary of the success of the Hubble telescope on Friday.
Launched by Nasa and European Space Agency (ESA) in 1990, the high-resolution space telescope revolutionized modern astronomy and changed the view of the universe by offering glimpses of distant galaxies and nebulae.
Friday’s event was organized by The Institution of Engineers (India), Nashik Local Centre, Nashik Municipal Corporation (NMC), Kalpana Youth Foundation (KYF) and Sunday Science School.It had experts give the crowd an insight into the telescope’s functions, space missions as well as other space-related information.
Hemant Adhav, an official from Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), spoke to the gathering about the history of the Hubble Space Telescope and other missions like the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), an international collaboration between Nasa, the European Space Agency (ESA), and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA). “JWST will be the premier observatory of the next decade, serving thousands of astronomers worldwide. It will study every phase in the history of our universe, ranging from the first luminous glows after the Big Bang, to the formation of solar systems capable of supporting life on planets like earth, to the evolution of our own Solar System,” he said
Another HAL official, Sushant Rajole, focused on the different types of Wide Field Planetary Cameras (WFPC) installed on the telescope and how they function at various spectrums and wavelengths to capture images stretched far across the galaxies.
Jaydeep Shah, president Kalpana Youth Foundation (KYF), meanwhile, held the audience’s attention with videos about space discoveries. He also demonstrated various mobile applications and software that help during star gazing and gather information to create awareness and develop interest among children.
City-based space educator and co-ordinator for the UN declared World Space Week (WSW), Apurva Jakhadi, informed the participants about WSW which is celebrated across the globe between October 4 and 10 every year. She explained the activities that would be held throughout that week.
Jakhadi said since the UN declaration in 1999, WSW has grown into the largest public space event on earth. Over 1,400 events in 80 countries celebrate the benefits of space. “The weeklong event highlights the great era of deep space discovery that we are in. We have never learnt as much of the universe we live in as in the last decade. Space telescopes, deep space probes and several interplanetary satellites and landers have shown us the magic, wonders and opportunities of new worlds,” she said.