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The
science instruments aboard Hubble are large, complex
devices. Some are similar in size and shape to
a telephone booth and others are similar to a
grand piano. The telescope was designed to hold
four telephone booth-sized instruments and four
piano-shaped instruments. The instruments take
digital electronic pictures of stars and send
the picture data to the ground where scientists
analyze the information to make discoveries about
our universe. This picture shows an astronaut
removing the Goddard High Resolution Spectrograph
in preparation for a new instrument during the
Second Servicing Mission in 1997.
Three
instruments are in active scientific use on Hubble:
the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2, the Space
Telescope Imaging Spectrograph, and a Fine Guidance
Sensor. Other instrument bays are occupied by
the Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer,
which is now dormant due to the depletion of its
coolant; the Faint Object Camera; and the corrective
optical device called COSTAR, which is no longer
needed.
During
the next servicing mission, the Faint Object Camera
will be replaced by a new instrument, the Advanced
Camera for Surveys. The final servicing mission
will feature the removal of COSTAR and the installation
of another new instrument, the Cosmic Origins
Spectrograph.
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