The man behind OF HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE Hubble’s “Pillars” p. 26 SPECIAL 2 5COLLECTOR’STH ANNIVERSARY EDITION APRIL 2015 HUBBLEThe world’s best-selling astronomy magazine SPACE TELESCOPE • Top science discoveries p. 28 • Space missions To celebrate 25 years of discovery, the Hubble that saved the Space Telescope used its latest camera to telescope p. 44 capture this image of the Eagle Nebula, the subject of a famous 1995 photo dubbed the • How Hubble “Pillars of Creation.” changed the world p. 50 BEST www.Astronomy.com BONUS Vol. 43 ONLINE • IMAGES Issue 4 28 CONTENT FROM HUBBLE p. 56 CODE p. 4 WorldMags.net DESIGN. PERFORMANCE. QUALITY. EDGEHD OPTICS MAKE YOUR ASTROIMAGES SHINE. True Flat Field EdgeHD’s patented aplanatic Schmidt optical design provides a true flat field, eliminating the visual defects of coma and field curvature. The result is sharp, pinpoint stars all the way to the edge of even today’s largest imaging sensors. 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Images by Andre Paquette with CGE Pro 1400 HD M57Pelican Nebula M51The Moon NGC 6946 CELESTRON PREMIER SELECT DEALERS Adorama – 800.223.2500 – www.adorama.com High Point Scientific – 800.266.9590 – www.highpointscientific.com Astronomics – 800.422.7876 – www.astronomics.com OPT Telescopes – 800.483.6287 – www.opttelescopes.com B&H Photo – 800.606.6969 – www.bhphotovideo.com Optics Planet – 800.504.5897 – www.opticsplanet.com Focus Camera – 800.221.0828 – www.focuscamera.com Woodland Hills – 888.427.8766 – www.telescopes.net Hands On Optics – 866.726.7371 – www.handsonoptics.com WorldMags.net WorldMags.net some pictures say a thousand words. others say more. WE SALUTE THE HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE ON ITS 25TH ANNIVERSARY. April 24 marks 25 years since the Hubble was launched into orbit and forever changed what we know about the universe. Celebrate the milestone at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, where you can view a full-sized Hubble replica, watch Hubble 3D on IMAX® and experience awe-inspiring Hubble images. It’s a fitting always exploring tribute to the first of NASA’s great observatories. TourKSC.com WorldMags.net Online Content Code: ASY1504 Enter this code at: www.astronomy.com/code APRIL 2015 to gain access to web-exclusiveWorldMags.net content VOL. 43, NO. 4 I/AURA C NASA/ESA/THE HUBBLE HERITAGE TEAM STS TEAM HERITAGE HUBBLE NASA/ESA/THE ON THE COVER The Hubble Space Telescope recently revisited the Eagle Nebula’s famous “Pillars of Creation,” capturing the iconic star-forming region with its CONTENTS 56 newest camera. FEATURES COLUMNS 11 26 36 50 Strange Universe BOB BERMAN The man behind the The Sky this Month How Hubble changed Secret Sky 16 Pillars A brief glimpse of totality. the world STEPHEN JAMES O’MEARA What has JEFF HESTER’s iconic MARTIN RATCLIFFE AND Think today’s society would be Hubble Space Telescope image of ALISTER LING the same without the big eye in Observing Basics 20 the Eagle Nebula meant to him the sky? Think again. LIZ KRUESI GLENN CHAPLE personally? 38 Cosmic Imaging 70 StarDome and 56 ADAM BLOCK 28 Path of the Planets 25 years of dazzling Hubble’s top seven RICHARD TALCOTT; images science discoveries ILLUSTRATIONS BY ROEN KELLY The space telescope’s extraor- QUANTUM GRAVITY From the incandescent brilliance dinary vision has revealed star Snapshot 9 of the first stars and galaxies to 44 clusters, nebulae, and galaxies in the overwhelming power of dark detail no one could have imag- Breakthrough 10 Saving Hubble matter and energy, the space ined. RICHARD TALCOTT How astronauts continually Astro News 12 telescope has illuminated many reinvented the most important cosmic mysteries. MARIO LIVIO telescope ever. BEN EVANS 68 Ask Astro IN EVERY ISSUE From the Editor 6 BONUS ONLINE FEATURE! Letters 11, 20, 70 How the Hubble Space Telescope Web Talk 24 changed the cosmos New Products 71 Exclusive interviews, interactive graphics, and much more! Advertiser Index 72 28 www.Astronomy.com/Hubble25 Final Frontier 74 Visit Astronomy.com/toc for bonus material — it’s ONLINE exclusive to Astronomy FAVORITES magazine subscribers. Astronomy (ISSN 0091-6358, USPS 531-350) is pub- Go to www.Astronomy.com Superstars of Trips & Tours Tour the Equipment lished monthly by Kalmbach Publishing Co., 21027 Crossroads Circle, P. O. Box 1612, Waukesha, WI for info on the biggest news and Astronomy Travel the Solar System Review 53187–1612. Periodicals postage paid at Waukesha, observing events, stunning photos, Interviews world with the Videos about Archive WI, and additional offices. POSTMASTER: Send with top staff of our planetary What to know address changes to Astronomy, 21027 Crossroads informative videos, and more. Circle, P. O. Box 1612, Waukesha, WI 53187–1612. scientists Astronomy neighborhood before you buy Canada Publication Mail Agreement #40010760. WorldMags.net 4 ASTRONOMY • APRIL 2015 WorldMags.net This 4.3° F.o.V. image of the North American and Pelican Nebulae was imaged by Gordon Haynes using the Tele Vue-NP127fl i & FLI Proline “Truly Plug and Play!” Astro-imaging still isn’t “point & shoot,” but as Gordon says, it is fi nally “plug & play.” “I’ve never had such an easy to set up and use, trouble-free imaging set up, not to mention the quality of the images! With my other scopes I’d have to inter- rupt sessions to adjust focus, not with the NP127fl i. It simply allows more quality data gathering time. I would go as far as saying it is, without doubt, the best widefi eld astrograph available.” The Tele Vue-NP127fl i marries its fl at-fi eld, f/5.3 optics with FLI’s Atlas Focuser, Centerline Filter Wheel, and Proline series cameras to create a system that simply locks together rigid, square and properly spaced. Engineered as a system, there is nothing to fi gure out, source, or tweak. The work is done, just go image! See more images and learn about the unique features of the NP127fl i at Tele Vue.com ® Tele Vue 32 Elkay Dr., Chester, New York 10918 (845) 469-4551. televue.com Visionary WorldMags.net FROM THE EDITOR BY DAVID J. EICHERWorldMags.net Editor David J. Eicher Art Director LuAnn Williams Belter EDITORIAL STAFF Senior Editors Michael E. Bakich, Richard Talcott Production Editor Karri Ferron Associate Editors Eric Betz, Korey Haynes Editorial Associate Valerie Penton ART STAFF Hubble’s NASA Senior Graphic Designer Chuck Braasch Illustrator Roen Kelly Production Coordinator Jodi Jeranek CONTRIBUTING EDITORS deep legacy Bob Berman, Adam Block, Glenn F. Chaple, Jr., Martin George, Tony Hallas, Phil Harrington, Liz Kruesi, Ray Jayawardhana, Alister Ling, Steve Nadis, Stephen James O’Meara, Tom Polakis, Martin Ratcliffe, Mike D. Reynolds, Sheldon Reynolds, Erika Rix, wenty-five years ago, a Hubble story I wrote, Haynes. She comes to John Shibley, Raymond Shubinski NASA launched what “How the Hubble Space Astronomy magazine fresh EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD Buzz Aldrin, Marcia Bartusiak, Timothy Ferris, Alex Filippenko, promised to be the Telescope changed the cos- from an astronomy Ph.D. Adam Frank, John S. Gallagher lll, Daniel W. E. Green, William K. world’s greatest astro- mos,” with interactive program at George Mason Hartmann, Paul Hodge, Anne L. Kinney, Edward Kolb, Stephen P. Maran, Brian May, S. Alan Stern, James Trefil nomical instrument, graphics, slide shows, videos, University in Virginia. Tthe Hubble Space Telescope. and more, and you can see it Haynes spent most of her Kalmbach Publishing Co. And then, shocked and at www.Astronomy.com/ time in grad school at President Charles R. Croft Vice President, Editorial, Publisher Kevin P. Keefe stunned when they found the Hubble25. NASA’s Goddard Space Senior Vice President, Sales & Marketing Daniel R. Lance optics to be flawed, engineers With the launch of the Flight Center, studying exo- Vice President, Consumer Marketing Nicole McGuire Corporate Art Director Maureen M. Schimmel devised a way to fit Hubble James Webb Space Tele- planet atmospheres and Managing Art Director Michael Soliday with corrective lenses, trans- scope, in some senses a suc- looking for water on alien Production Manager Helene Tsigistras Corporate Advertising Director Ann E. Smith forming it into a machine cessor to Hubble, looming worlds. In addition to Group Circulation Manager Ken Meisinger Single Copy Sales Manager Michael Barbee that has rewritten our under- on the horizon, it’s a fitting research, she was a writer for Marketing Specialist Cathy Muempfer standing of the cosmos. time to look back. Hubble ADVERTISING DEPARTMENT (888) 558-1544 This special issue exam- has at least several years left, Advertising Sales Manager Jamie Rinehart ines the legacy of the instru- but if not captured in orbit Advertising Sales Representative Dina Johnston, [email protected] ment that, in a span of 25 or serviced again, it will Ad Services Representative years, has contributed more reenter the atmosphere, Christa Burbank, [email protected] RETAIL TRADE ORDERS AND INQUIRIES revolutionary observations breaking apart and falling Selling Astronomy magazine or products in your store: than any telescope that pre- back to Earth.