How the Hubble Space Telescope works

Mumbai: From the dawn of humankind to a mere 400 years ago, all that we knew about our universe came through observations with the naked eye. Then Galileo turned his telescope toward the heavens in 1610. The world was in for an awakening.

Saturn, we learned, had rings. Jupiter had moons. That nebulous patch across the center of the sky called the Milky Way was not a cloud but a collection of countless stars. Within but a few years, our notion of the natural world would be forever changed. A scientific and societal revolution quickly ensued.

Hubble, the observatory, is the first major optical telescope to be placed in space, the ultimate mountaintop. Hubble's launch and deployment in April 1990 marked the most significant advance in astronomy since Galileo's telescope. Above the distortion of the atmosphere, far far above rain clouds and light pollution, Hubble has an unobstructed view of the universe. Scientists have used Hubble to observe the most distant stars and galaxies as well as the planets in our solar system.

The video of the day elucidates how this observatory Hubble Space Telescope functions. Watch and learn: