1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:05,040 From astronaut servicing  missions to breathtaking images,   2 00:00:05,040 --> 00:00:11,040 from science proposals to science  papers, Hubble’s got the numbers! 3 00:00:11,040 --> 00:00:15,147 To begin with, this space superstar is 43 feet long 4 00:00:15,147 --> 00:00:18,400 and 14 feet wide. That’s about the size of  5 00:00:18,400 --> 00:00:20,722 a big yellow school bus! 6 00:00:20,722 --> 00:00:23,640 Hubble weighs 27,000 pounds, 7 00:00:23,640 --> 00:00:26,480 heavier than two full-grown elephants. 8 00:00:26,480 --> 00:00:29,293 Now imagine this giant beast orbiting Earth 9 00:00:29,293 --> 00:00:32,160 about 300 miles up, zipping around at a 10 00:00:32,160 --> 00:00:35,712 jaw-dropping 17,000 miles per hour. 11 00:00:35,712 --> 00:00:38,605 That’s like traveling from New York to Los Angeles 12 00:00:38,605 --> 00:00:40,872 in less than 10 minutes! 13 00:00:40,872 --> 00:00:43,601 Every 95 minutes, Hubble  completes 14 00:00:43,601 --> 00:00:45,520 a full orbit around the Earth, 15 00:00:45,520 --> 00:00:47,051 giving it a front-row seat to 16 00:00:47,051 --> 00:00:49,371 the wonders of the universe. 17 00:00:49,371 --> 00:00:52,560 In fact, since its launch in 1990,  18 00:00:52,560 --> 00:00:55,492 Hubble has traveled over 5 billion miles, 19 00:00:55,492 --> 00:01:00,480 going around our planet over 190,000 times! 20 00:01:00,480 --> 00:01:03,839 Powering this cosmic giant are its  solar arrays, 21 00:01:03,839 --> 00:01:07,283 generating over 5,000 watts of electricity. 22 00:01:07,283 --> 00:01:09,680 That’s used to power the hardware on Hubble and to   23 00:01:09,680 --> 00:01:12,270 simultaneously recharge its batteries that are 24 00:01:12,270 --> 00:01:15,120 used when Hubble is in the shadow of the Earth.  25 00:01:15,120 --> 00:01:17,668 Hubble’s hardware, which includes everything from 26 00:01:17,668 --> 00:01:20,400 computers to cameras, uses a total of  27 00:01:20,400 --> 00:01:22,862 2100 watts of electricity. 28 00:01:22,862 --> 00:01:26,960 That’s enough to power 210 LED lightbulbs. 29 00:01:26,960 --> 00:01:29,541 Hubble’s optics feature a 7.8 foot 30 00:01:29,541 --> 00:01:33,520 primary mirror  that is polished so smooth that if you stretched   31 00:01:33,520 --> 00:01:35,941 it to be the width of the United States, 32 00:01:35,941 --> 00:01:40,000 you would never find a bump higher than 6 inches. 33 00:01:40,000 --> 00:01:43,121 Hubble has two 16-megapixel cameras, 34 00:01:43,121 --> 00:01:47,040 this allows Hubble to capture the universe in stunning detail,   35 00:01:47,040 --> 00:01:50,556 taking us from our Moon 240,000 miles away, 36 00:01:50,556 --> 00:01:54,000 to objects in our solar system millions of miles away,   37 00:01:54,000 --> 00:01:57,090 to galaxies hundreds of millions of light-years away, 38 00:01:57,090 --> 00:02:00,000 and even to some of the farthest galaxies 39 00:02:00,000 --> 00:02:03,985 around 13.4 billion light-years away! 40 00:02:03,985 --> 00:02:08,320 In fact, Hubble’s mirror collects light 40,000 times better   41 00:02:08,320 --> 00:02:09,750 than the human eye! 42 00:02:09,750 --> 00:02:12,110 This system is so powerful  that Hubble can 43 00:02:12,110 --> 00:02:14,560 spot a nightlight on the moon. 44 00:02:14,560 --> 00:02:16,960 To keep Hubble at peak performance,   45 00:02:16,960 --> 00:02:21,155 astronauts visited five times to service  the telescope. 46 00:02:21,155 --> 00:02:22,640 These missions included  47 00:02:22,640 --> 00:02:24,940 essential upgrades and repairs that extended 48 00:02:24,940 --> 00:02:28,800 Hubble’s life and modernized its technology. 49 00:02:28,800 --> 00:02:32,058 From installing new cameras to replacing  gyroscopes, 50 00:02:32,058 --> 00:02:33,840 each mission was a complex,   51 00:02:33,840 --> 00:02:35,916 high-stakes endeavor. 52 00:02:35,916 --> 00:02:39,360 In total, 32  astronauts have flown to Hubble, 53 00:02:39,360 --> 00:02:41,838 and with 5 servicing missions combined with 54 00:02:41,838 --> 00:02:45,520 171 hours of spacewalks, these brave men 55 00:02:45,520 --> 00:02:47,921 and women went above and beyond to ensure 56 00:02:47,921 --> 00:02:51,840 our window to the universe remains crystal clear. 57 00:02:51,840 --> 00:02:56,240 Hubble has over 1.6 million  observations that resulted in 58 00:02:56,240 --> 00:02:58,530 more than 22,000 peer-reviewed 59 00:02:58,530 --> 00:03:01,440 scientific papers published in professional journals   60 00:03:01,440 --> 00:03:03,488 on its discoveries. 61 00:03:03,488 --> 00:03:06,160 Those papers have been cited in other papers 62 00:03:06,160 --> 00:03:08,883 over 1.3 million times. 63 00:03:08,883 --> 00:03:10,832 That’s a lot of cosmic  knowledge all because 64 00:03:10,832 --> 00:03:13,040 of one space telescope! 65 00:03:13,040 --> 00:03:15,731 Hubble’s groundbreaking discoveries  revolutionized 66 00:03:15,731 --> 00:03:18,047 our understanding of the universe. 67 00:03:18,047 --> 00:03:20,238 From measuring the rate  of its expansion, 68 00:03:20,238 --> 00:03:22,367 to finding evidence of black holes, 69 00:03:22,367 --> 00:03:24,365 and even peering into the  atmospheres of 70 00:03:24,365 --> 00:03:26,800 planets around other stars. 71 00:03:26,800 --> 00:03:30,000 Even with so many observations over three decades, 72 00:03:30,000 --> 00:03:32,480 Hubble has still only observed around 73 00:03:32,480 --> 00:03:35,982 1/10th of 1% of the entire sky! 74 00:03:35,982 --> 00:03:37,565 That means Hubble has a lot more 75 00:03:37,565 --> 00:03:40,000 of the universe to explore! 76 00:03:40,000 --> 00:03:42,820 So the next time you gaze up at the night sky, 77 00:03:42,820 --> 00:03:44,720 remember that Hubble is out there,  78 00:03:44,720 --> 00:03:47,865 unveiling the secrets of the cosmos. 79 00:03:47,865 --> 00:03:50,240 Over its more than three decades in orbit, 80 00:03:50,240 --> 00:03:51,714 we really have learned a lot 81 00:03:51,714 --> 00:03:53,674 about our place in the universe… 82 00:03:53,674 --> 00:03:56,206 Thanks to one incredible telescope! 83 00:03:56,206 --> 00:04:19,959 Follow us on social media @NASAHubble