1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:03,062
Imagine that we could
really have a time machine

2
00:00:03,063 --> 00:00:06,124
that would show us what
happened in the early Universe.

3
00:00:06,125 --> 00:00:08,470
A machine that would
become more powerful

4
00:00:08,526 --> 00:00:12,699
and give us progressively
clearer pictures even as it aged.

5
00:00:12,700 --> 00:00:16,397
Imagine that the machine could
detect worlds beyond our Solar System,

6
00:00:16,398 --> 00:00:18,675
help map invisible dark matter

7
00:00:18,739 --> 00:00:22,095
and characterise the
expansion of the Universe.

8
00:00:22,096 --> 00:00:25,891
It may come as a surprise, but
this time machine does exist

9
00:00:25,892 --> 00:00:28,251
and is silently floating above us.

10
00:00:28,252 --> 00:00:30,967
Familiar enough to many
to be taken for granted,

11
00:00:30,968 --> 00:00:33,407
the NASA / ESA Hubble Space Telescope

12
00:00:33,462 --> 00:00:39,325
celebrates two astonishing decades
in orbit on the 24th of April.

13
00:00:56,938 --> 00:00:58,846
This is the Hubblecast.

14
00:00:58,847 --> 00:01:02,336
News and images from the
NASA / ESA Hubble Space Telescope.

15
00:01:02,337 --> 00:01:06,237
Travelling through time and space
with our host, Dr. J

16
00:01:06,238 --> 00:01:11,366
EPISODE 36: Gifts From the Sky.
Honouring 20 Years of Hubble
a. k. a. Dr. Joe Liske.

17
00:01:11,367 --> 00:01:16,841
Wow! This thing travels
over 28,000 kms. per hour!

18
00:01:16,876 --> 00:01:20,758
930,000 observations.

19
00:01:20,793 --> 00:01:27,044
570,000 images of
30,000 celestial objects.

20
00:01:28,761 --> 00:01:31,443
20 years...

21
00:01:31,444 --> 00:01:35,736
Two decades and 110,000
trips around our planet.

22
00:01:44,169 --> 00:01:47,379
- Dr. J... 30 seconds to showtime.
- OK.

23
00:02:11,378 --> 00:02:16,103
After two decades of service to the
scientific community and the public world-wide,

24
00:02:16,138 --> 00:02:19,553
tonight we're recognizing the
achievements of what is arguably

25
00:02:19,554 --> 00:02:23,118
the most renowned and beloved
space observatory in history.

26
00:02:23,119 --> 00:02:25,478
Welcome to the show!

27
00:02:26,021 --> 00:02:28,856
May be you know it for
its awe inspiring images

28
00:02:28,857 --> 00:02:32,772
or maybe you know it for its
fundamental scientific discoveries,

29
00:02:32,807 --> 00:02:35,354
but chances are... you do know it!

30
00:02:35,849 --> 00:02:41,832
Tonight we honour the Hubble Space Telescope
with the Cosmic Lifetime Achievement Award.

31
00:02:42,514 --> 00:02:45,252
It is not just about pretty pictures,

32
00:02:45,253 --> 00:02:48,512
even though Hubble is famous
for some of the most intriguing

33
00:02:48,513 --> 00:02:51,771
and coincidentally artistic
images in the Universe.

34
00:02:51,772 --> 00:02:54,308
Astronomers, professional
and amateur alike,

35
00:02:54,309 --> 00:02:57,045
have been translating
the magnificent colours

36
00:02:57,096 --> 00:03:02,315
and poetic swirls of these
images into hard-edged science.

37
00:03:02,316 --> 00:03:07,627
Twenty years of observations have
produced more than 45 terabytes of data,

38
00:03:07,628 --> 00:03:12,132
enough information to
fill nearly 5,800 DVDs.

39
00:03:12,133 --> 00:03:17,671
Each month, the orbiting observatory
generates more than 360 gigabytes of data,

40
00:03:17,672 --> 00:03:22,160
which could fill the storage
space of an average home computer.

41
00:03:25,144 --> 00:03:28,904
It is a real honour to be able to
celebrate my dear friend Hubble.

42
00:03:28,905 --> 00:03:31,997
Tonight we pay tribute to
your venerable achievements

43
00:03:31,998 --> 00:03:35,086
and we look forward to the
work that lies ahead of you.

44
00:03:35,087 --> 00:03:38,141
We will look to some of your
most outstanding accomplishments

45
00:03:38,142 --> 00:03:41,445
and your most loved images
from the past twenty years.

46
00:03:41,801 --> 00:03:43,491
One of your most recent achievements

47
00:03:43,538 --> 00:03:46,744
takes us back to the
early days of the Universe.

48
00:03:47,484 --> 00:03:50,477
Scientists and space
enthusiasts worldwide

49
00:03:50,478 --> 00:03:54,880
were wowed by the deepest pictures
of our Universe captured by Hubble.

50
00:03:54,881 --> 00:03:58,154
The first Hubble Deep
Field was taken in 1995

51
00:03:58,189 --> 00:04:01,428
and opened a whole
new field of research.

52
00:04:01,429 --> 00:04:03,413
Hubble has since repeated the success

53
00:04:03,467 --> 00:04:07,799
and the latest Hubble Ultra Deep
Field image lets us see back in time

54
00:04:07,838 --> 00:04:14,497
13 billion years, just 600 million to
800 million years after the Big Bang!

55
00:04:14,498 --> 00:04:17,508
This was one of the first
and most spectacular data sets

56
00:04:17,551 --> 00:04:20,912
taken with Hubble's brand
new Wide Field Camera 3.

57
00:04:20,913 --> 00:04:23,370
By studying galaxies
at different epochs,

58
00:04:23,448 --> 00:04:27,553
astronomers can see how
galaxies change over time.

59
00:04:28,578 --> 00:04:31,211
A staple of science
fiction films for decades,

60
00:04:31,285 --> 00:04:35,895
black holes are among Universe's
most elusive and intriguing enigmas.

61
00:04:35,896 --> 00:04:39,058
Their existence was
confirmed by Hubble in 1994,

62
00:04:39,093 --> 00:04:42,186
when Hubble's high
resolution made it possible

63
00:04:42,221 --> 00:04:45,133
to see the effects of a black
hole's gravitational attraction

64
00:04:45,168 --> 00:04:47,230
on its surroundings.

65
00:04:48,543 --> 00:04:50,629
Hubble has also proved that black holes

66
00:04:50,693 --> 00:04:54,594
are most likely present at
the centers of all galaxies.

67
00:04:54,595 --> 00:04:59,519
After this discovery, the orbiting
observatory then began further examination

68
00:04:59,520 --> 00:05:04,046
of the relationship between super-massive
black holes and their home galaxies

69
00:05:04,047 --> 00:05:07,590
and found that a galaxy's bulge
and the mass of its black hole

70
00:05:07,647 --> 00:05:11,343
are closely interconnected.

71
00:05:11,344 --> 00:05:14,143
Hubble could also be honored
with the Congeniality Award

72
00:05:14,207 --> 00:05:17,081
for getting to know our
neighbours in the Solar System.

73
00:05:17,082 --> 00:05:19,387
Hubble has imaged most of the planets

74
00:05:19,422 --> 00:05:23,022
and has the advantage of being
able to carry out long-term studies

75
00:05:23,023 --> 00:05:26,622
from its vantage point
600 kms. above the Earth.

76
00:05:29,329 --> 00:05:33,517
Have you ever been lucky enough to see
the enchanting northern or southern lights?

77
00:05:33,518 --> 00:05:36,404
Well, Hubble has captured
the alluring aurorae

78
00:05:36,441 --> 00:05:39,879
that light up the poles of the
gas giants, Jupiter and Saturn,

79
00:05:39,880 --> 00:05:44,327
and it has caught glimpses
of comet impacts on Jupiter.

80
00:05:44,751 --> 00:05:47,863
Aside from the planets, Hubble
has also studied asteroids,

81
00:05:47,864 --> 00:05:50,620
like the 500-kilometre sized Vesta.

82
00:05:50,621 --> 00:05:53,898
The resulting map of its
surface shows a strange world

83
00:05:53,970 --> 00:06:00,113
with a gigantic impact crater and,
possibly, even ancient lava flows.

84
00:06:01,453 --> 00:06:05,417
But what is happening beyond our
immediate cosmic neighbourhood?

85
00:06:05,418 --> 00:06:09,737
This is a topic that fascinates many
of us and Hubble has not only helped

86
00:06:09,772 --> 00:06:13,247
to detect worlds outside the
confines of the Solar System,

87
00:06:13,248 --> 00:06:16,404
but it can also help
to characterise them.

88
00:06:18,865 --> 00:06:22,940
In November 2001, Hubble made
the first direct detection

89
00:06:23,074 --> 00:06:26,062
of the atmosphere of a
planet orbiting another star.

90
00:06:26,063 --> 00:06:30,707
In this case, it was the
Sun-like star HD 209458,

91
00:06:30,708 --> 00:06:35,352
located about 150 light-years away
in the constellation of Pegasus.

92
00:06:35,353 --> 00:06:39,726
Knowing the makeup of a planet's
atmosphere allow scientists to determine

93
00:06:39,787 --> 00:06:44,586
whether "life as we know it" could
conceivable exist on the "alien world".

94
00:06:46,361 --> 00:06:51,881
In 2008, Hubble made the first
visible-light image of an extra-solar planet.

95
00:06:51,882 --> 00:06:55,261
It's in orbit around the
bright southern star Fomalhaut,

96
00:06:55,289 --> 00:06:59,937
which is about 25 light-years away in
the constellation of Piscis Australis.

97
00:06:59,938 --> 00:07:02,927
The star is surrounded
by an immense debris disc

98
00:07:02,966 --> 00:07:06,527
measuring over 35
billion kilometres across.

99
00:07:06,528 --> 00:07:12,461
The planet is orbiting about 3 billion
kilometres inside the disc's sharp inner edge,

100
00:07:12,462 --> 00:07:16,667
which is about 10 times the
distance between Saturn and the Sun.

101
00:07:18,003 --> 00:07:22,479
By measuring bright stars that
vary predictably, known as Cepheids,

102
00:07:22,480 --> 00:07:26,465
Hubble has been able to use
these stars as distance markers,

103
00:07:26,466 --> 00:07:30,474
laying a firm foundation for subsequent
measurements that led to the discovery

104
00:07:30,531 --> 00:07:35,588
of the accelerating Universe and a
more precise determination of its age.

105
00:07:37,092 --> 00:07:40,074
Astronomers have used
Hubble to observe Cepheids

106
00:07:40,145 --> 00:07:43,405
and to pin down their
distances much more accurately.

107
00:07:43,406 --> 00:07:45,294
These results were
used as a stepping-stone

108
00:07:45,295 --> 00:07:47,871
to measure the distances to supernovae,

109
00:07:47,906 --> 00:07:50,959
which, in turn, told us about
the scale of the Universe.

110
00:07:50,960 --> 00:07:54,296
As a result, today we know
the age of the Universe

111
00:07:54,331 --> 00:07:57,086
with much more precision
than before Hubble:

112
00:07:57,141 --> 00:08:00,413
it is about 13.7 billion years.

113
00:08:03,610 --> 00:08:07,632
In the 1920, Hubble's namesake,
the astronomer Edwing Hubble,

114
00:08:07,633 --> 00:08:10,444
discovered that the
Universe was expanding.

115
00:08:10,445 --> 00:08:12,233
The observatory that bears his name

116
00:08:12,268 --> 00:08:14,656
helped to determine the
rate of this expansion

117
00:08:14,691 --> 00:08:18,163
and to show that, in fact,
this expansion was accelerating.

118
00:08:18,164 --> 00:08:24,352
This was the smoking gun that pointed to
the existence of the elusive dark energy.

119
00:08:24,353 --> 00:08:26,547
When we look up at the night sky,

120
00:08:26,548 --> 00:08:29,376
it is easy to believe that
space is just a giant void

121
00:08:29,430 --> 00:08:33,129
with some twinkling stars and
a few recognisable planets.

122
00:08:33,130 --> 00:08:37,881
However, we must remember that there are
structures and matter that we cannot see.

123
00:08:37,882 --> 00:08:41,001
Hubble is helping to
define in three dimensions

124
00:08:41,059 --> 00:08:45,857
the distribution of ghostly and
invisible dark matter in the Universe.

125
00:08:48,380 --> 00:08:51,920
Studies completed in 2007
and earlier this year,

126
00:08:51,974 --> 00:08:56,639
gave astronomers a clear idea of the
structures that lie between galaxies.

127
00:08:56,640 --> 00:08:59,112
These structures do
not contain any stars

128
00:08:59,165 --> 00:09:01,152
and they are made up
mostly of dark matter,

129
00:09:01,187 --> 00:09:04,448
which makes them somewhat
difficult to identify.

130
00:09:05,014 --> 00:09:06,932
By analysing the COSMOS survey,

131
00:09:06,986 --> 00:09:09,907
which is the largest survey
ever undertaken with Hubble,

132
00:09:09,908 --> 00:09:12,621
international teams of
astronomers were able to obtain

133
00:09:12,622 --> 00:09:15,334
one of the most important
results in cosmology:

134
00:09:15,335 --> 00:09:19,240
a three-dimensional map which
gave us a first and unique look

135
00:09:19,303 --> 00:09:23,842
at the web-like large-scale distribution
of dark matter in the Universe.

136
00:09:23,843 --> 00:09:28,855
This landmark result accurately confirmed
our theory of structure formation.

137
00:09:29,450 --> 00:09:34,415
Hubble has allowed for many comprehensive
studies of the life and death of stars,

138
00:09:34,416 --> 00:09:38,510
the way stars develop, live
their lives and, eventually, die.

139
00:09:39,896 --> 00:09:42,411
Closely following the timeline of stars,

140
00:09:42,482 --> 00:09:47,445
we get a better idea of what is
happening in our own galaxy and others.

141
00:09:49,855 --> 00:09:52,207
Sensitive infrared
instruments on-board Hubble

142
00:09:52,276 --> 00:09:55,903
allow us to peer through clouds
and columns of interstellar dust

143
00:09:55,904 --> 00:09:58,434
to witness the birth of stars.

144
00:09:58,601 --> 00:10:03,496
Many Hubble images feature blue, hot
stars at the early stages of their lives.

145
00:10:03,786 --> 00:10:06,125
At the other end of
the stellar lifetime,

146
00:10:06,206 --> 00:10:09,679
Hubble lets us see remote
supernovae and gamma-ray bursts,

147
00:10:09,740 --> 00:10:14,814
the final, dramatic explosions that
signal the end of a star's life.

148
00:10:18,030 --> 00:10:23,170
And now, I'm proud to present
Hubble's 20th anniversary image.

149
00:10:23,490 --> 00:10:25,671
Hubble captured the chaotic activity

150
00:10:25,747 --> 00:10:30,372
atop a three-light-year-tall pillar
of gas and dust in the Carina Nebula,

151
00:10:30,373 --> 00:10:35,821
located about 7,500 light-years away
in the southern constellation of Carina.

152
00:10:36,180 --> 00:10:40,285
The pillar is being eaten away by
brilliant light from nearby stars

153
00:10:40,286 --> 00:10:44,630
and it is also assaulted from
within, as infant stars buried inside

154
00:10:44,665 --> 00:10:49,598
fire off jets that can be seen
streaming away from the towering peaks.

155
00:10:54,732 --> 00:10:58,538
Nestled inside this dense
mountain are fledgling stars,

156
00:10:58,539 --> 00:11:02,243
long streamers of gas can be seen
shooting in opposite direction

157
00:11:02,278 --> 00:11:05,397
from the pedestal at
the top of the image.

158
00:11:05,398 --> 00:11:09,946
Another pair of jets is visible at
another peak at the center of the image.

159
00:11:09,981 --> 00:11:13,796
These jets are an indicator
for the birth of new stars.

160
00:11:13,868 --> 00:11:17,738
A jet like this is launched by
a swirling disc around the star

161
00:11:17,739 --> 00:11:24,082
and it is this disc that allows material to
slowly accrete onto the surface of the star.

162
00:11:25,696 --> 00:11:27,048
What a fantastic image

163
00:11:27,121 --> 00:11:31,627
and what a great way to celebrate this
amazing observatory's capabilities.

164
00:11:31,628 --> 00:11:33,870
Thanks for the past
twenty years, Hubble,

165
00:11:33,871 --> 00:11:35,911
and here's to many more!

166
00:11:35,912 --> 00:11:38,993
This is Dr. J
signing off for the Hubblecast

167
00:11:38,994 --> 00:11:41,367
and wishing Hubble and
all those who admire it

168
00:11:41,414 --> 00:11:44,799
a happy 20th anniversary.

169
00:11:45,000 --> 00:11:47,000
Hubblecast is produced
by ESA / Hubble

170
00:11:47,001 --> 00:11:49,001
at the European
Southern Observatory in Germany.

171
00:11:50,000 --> 00:11:52,000
The Hubble mission is a project
of international cooperation

172
00:11:52,001 --> 00:11:54,001
between NASA and
the European Space Agency.

173
00:12:03,972 --> 00:12:05,631
Now that you've caught up with Hubble

174
00:12:05,632 --> 00:12:07,993
make sure to get the
latest from the ground too.

175
00:12:07,994 --> 00:12:12,067
The ESOCast highlights the best of
the European Southern Observatory

176
00:12:12,068 --> 00:12:16,162
and its powerful telescopes that
observe from high in the Chilean Andes

177
00:12:16,163 --> 00:12:22,166
at the southern hemisphere's best known
sites for astronomical observations.