Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

Hubble Telescope Camera Breaks – and U.S. Shutdown Might Delay Repair

posted by takyon on Friday January 11 2019, @12:15AM   Printer-friendly
from the trubble dept.

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

Hubble has a problem. NASA says that one of the cameras on the almost 30-year-old space telescope – the Wide Field Camera 3 – is no longer operational because of a hardware problem.

"WFC3 is the major imaging instrument on HST [Hubble Space Telescope]. It is, frankly, the best view of the heavens that humanity has," Simon Porter, an astrophysicist at the Southwest Research Institute in Colorado, wrote on Twitter. "But apparently some bloody fence is more important."

Although the Hubble Space Telescope has been observing the sky since 1990, the WFC3 was added just 10 years ago during a service mission. Over the last decade it has captured spectacular images, including a high-resolution version of the iconic 'Pillars of Creation' – a gas cloud inside the Eagle Nebula that was first imaged by Hubble back in 1995.

Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Hubble Telescope Camera Breaks – and U.S. Shutdown Might Delay Repair | Log In/Create an Account | Top | 124 comments | Search Discussion
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.

  • (Score: 2) by takyon on Friday January 11 2019, @03:29AM (3 children)

    by takyon (881) <takyonNO@SPAMsoylentnews.org> on Friday January 11 2019, @03:29AM (#784863) Journal

    Right now you should be more scared that Trump might declare a national emergency.

    What is so bad about that?

    President Trump declares a national emergency (just one of 30+). He siphons off some money from the Pentagon, which already gets too much funding as it stands, and gets to put up his fence or barrier down there. The government shutdown ends, and the Trump administration gets taken to court, again.

    Sending troops to the border just before the election was worse - a wasteful stunt.

    --
    [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
    Starting Score:    1  point
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  
    Total Score:   2  

  • (Score: 2, Redundant) by Phoenix666 on Friday January 11 2019, @05:13PM (2 children)

    by Phoenix666 (552) on Friday January 11 2019, @05:13PM (#785129) Journal

    Yeah, I can't even remember the last time a President got a declaration of war from Congress before starting a war. Waiting for Congress to weigh in on anything is so passe. Did Congress even get it up to say anything about Obama assassinating American citizens by drone? I can't remember anybody peeping up about that.

    So, really, Trump declaring a national emergency for this would be quite par for the course of every president in my lifetime.

    --
    Washington DC delenda est.

    • (Score: 3, Informative) by DeathMonkey on Friday January 11 2019, @08:20PM (1 child)

      by DeathMonkey (1380) on Friday January 11 2019, @08:20PM (#785204) Journal

      So, really, Trump declaring a national emergency for this would be quite par for the course of every president in my lifetime.

      Declaring actual disasters a disaster is par for the course.

      Declaring a fake disaster a disaster in order to usurp the Congress' power of the purse is completely unpresidented.

      Suddenly executive overreach isn't a thing. Color me surprised.