October 1, 2003

Exhibit out of this world

photo
Herald photo by Carol South
Sunday afternoon, Dr. Mark Volt, professor of Astronomy at Michigan State University, discussed the Hubble Space Telescope program and some of the images in the Heavens.

Dennos Museum displays images from Hubble telescope

By Carol South
Herald contributing writer

       Highlighting the beauty and science of the solar system and deep space, Dr. Mark Voit discussed the history and accomplishments of the Hubble Space Telescope Sunday at the Milliken Auditorium.
      The lecture drew hundreds of listeners and kicked off the Dennos Museum's Heavens Above: Photographs of the Universe From the Hubble Space Telescope exhibit.
      The back lit display features 30 oversized photographs of stellar objects near and far, ranging from globular clusters and planetary nebulae to Martian cyclones and comet debris crashing into Jupiter. The exhibit will be at the museum through February 29, 2004.
      The exhibit's vivid colors and swirling designs merge science and art, capturing the events of the universe in a snapshot of time.
      "It is wonderful to have the exhibit here, it is both art and science and it shows that science can be very beautiful," said Jerry Dobek, astronomer at Northwestern Michigan College.
      Voit worked for eight years at the Hubble Space Telescope Institute and is now an astronomy professor at Michigan State University. Edwin Hubble, the namesake of the Hubble Space Telescope, was an astronomer who changed mankind's understanding of the universe in 1929 by demonstrating that the universe was expanding. The father of modern cosmology earlier helped define galaxies and measure ones outside of the Milky Way, the galactic home of the solar system.
      Voit noted that Hubble's pioneering contributions helped establish the Big Bang Theory of how the universe began.
      "A lot of the large study of the universe began with him," said Voit, noting that Hubble worked with a 100-inch mirror telescope at Mount Wilson in California.
      From that legacy, the Hubble Space Telescope was designed to provide an eye to the universe unimpeded by the Earth's atmosphere. Designed in the 1970s, built in the 1980s and launched in 1990, the telescope has given scientists greater understanding of the universe, its origins, size and future.
      "The Hubble can show details of new solar systems and galaxies in the making," Voit said.
      The telescope's infrared camera also allows astronomers to determine the composition of stars, a chemical analysis of stars called spectroscopy.
      "There are 100 billion stars in our galaxy and many are like our sun or even smaller," Voit noted, showing slides of various types of stars taken by the Hubble. "We find that when we look at stars, they come in all colors."
      Many of the images captured by the Hubble Space Telescope are deep space images of distant galaxies. Many of events photographed happened millions and even billions of years ago. Voit discussed why this documentation of the universe's history is important. He also showed computer models of how galaxies collide, spawning a whole new generation of stars when the do so.
      "The Hubble shows us just how dynamic things can be," Voit said. "We estimate there are 100 billion galaxies in the dome of the sky and the Hubble shows how they change over the ages."
      The Hubble is a great prospector of black holes and allows scientists to estimate their weights. Its technology also allows scientists to estimate the age of galaxies, measuring both distance and speed.
      Voit also discussed dark matter, the little-known substance that exists in space but cannot be seen.
      "We think there's something else out there and can tell it's there because of gravity but can't see it," he said. "We believe there's roughly ten times as much dark matter out there as gas and if anyone can figure out what it is, there's a Nobel prize out there waiting for you."
      Voit also discussed the future of the Hubble Space Telescope. The orbiting telescope is scheduled for one more maintenance mission by Space Shuttle astronauts in 2005. It is projected to last until 2010. After that, a proposed next generation telescope, the James Webb Space Telescope, will provide future scientists with additional information about the universe.