posted 10-14-2010 02:58 PM               

Camera That Saved Hubble Leaves Nest for Good

The historic Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2, developed and built by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) for NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, left JPL Wednesday morning, Oct. 13, for points east. Known informally as "The Camera That Saved Hubble," the baby-grand-piano-sized camera was on temporary loan from the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Washington.

During its stay at JPL, the historic camera was a popular attraction for groups of school children and other visitors, including thousands of people who attended JPL's annual Open House in May.

Next stop for the camera: It will be on display for a short time at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science in Colorado, and then it will return to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Washington, where it will go on permanent display.

The Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 was the workhorse camera on Hubble after being added to the observatory in December 1993 to correct an imaging problem created by the telescope's faulty primary mirror. During its tenure aboard Hubble, the camera produced many of the mission's most stunning deep space images. Its high-image resolution and quality are some of the reasons the camera became the space telescope's most requested instrument during its operational lifetime.

Logging 15 years aboard the observatory, the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 was Hubble's longest-serving instrument. Space-walking astronauts retrieved the camera during the final Hubble servicing mission in May 2009.

posted 10-14-2010 03:01 PM               

Camera That Saved Hubble to Visit Museum

Beginning at noon this Friday, October 15, the Hubble's Wide Field Planetary Camera 2, WFPC2, will be on display for a limited time at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science. The supercamera, which is the size of a baby grand piano, is credited with saving the Hubble Space Telescope mission and providing unprecedented and crystal clear pictures of our universe.

"The Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 ranks right up there with Galileo's telescope and Newton's apple, from a space science standpoint," said Steven Lee, PhD, the Museum's curator of planetary science. "From the public standpoint, this camera is Hubble. Hosting the WFPC2 is an amazing opportunity our museum."

Museum visitors will have a unique opportunity to see this remarkable scientific instrument, complete with several "craters" in its outer skin that were caused by micrometeorite impacts during its years in orbit. Special related programming will be offered on Saturday, October 16, and Sunday, October 17, during the Museum's Space and Sea Spectacular, which is included with general admission.

Additionally, visitors to the Museum's new IMAX 3D theater will experience actual 3D footage taken in 2009 when shuttle astronauts removed WFPC2 from Hubble.