The Hubble Telescope is also known as the HST or the Hubble Space Telescope. It is both American and European.  It has been in use in space since 1990. It was named after Edwin Hubble who offered evidence of the theory of an expanding Universe.  Hubble is 13.2 meters (43.5 ft.) long and that makes it about the size of a bus.  Under the right conditions Hubble can be seen with the naked eye.  It orbits the Earth every 97 minutes. 

It takes photographs of space objects like the planets and their moons and transmits them back to Earth. The images and information from them are then analyzed by scientists. 
Hubble uses a large mirror to get light. This light is then directed to a second mirror and then into a high-resolution camera onboard. 

The HST can take photographs at two different wavelengths. It can take them the wavelength of visible light and also at ultraviolet light. This helps scientists to learn more from the photographs since they have two different wavelengths of photos to compare.

Hubble has taken many beautiful photographs in space. 
One of its accomplishments is that Hubble has taken the clearest image of Pluto and its moon, Charon. 

There are many other space telescopes that have been or are still being used. Hubble is the best known of these.

Below is a beautiful image Hubble took of a Butterfly Nebula. It is 2000 light years away from Earth.

Butterfly Nebula - NASA

"Extraordinary Solar System" by Stuart Atkinson. Published by Scholastic, Inc., 2001

"The Planets" by Patric Moore. Published by Cooper Beach Books, 1995

"Solar System" by Dr. Mike Goldsmith. Published by Kingfisher Publishing of Boston, 2004

Websites:

Great Images in NASA (GRIN):
http://grin.hq.nasa.gov

 NASA- Main Hubble Page:
http://hubble.nasa.gov/index.php

The Nine Planets for Kids: http://kids.nineplanets.org/index.html
(maintained by Bill Arnett, Copyright Angela Finer)

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