Last Tweaks Will Rocket Hubble to Final Frontier

Spacewalk is second of five planned

(AP) - Astronauts from the shuttle Atlantis headed out for another spacewalk today, this time to give the Hubble telescope some new gyroscopes and batteries. The gyroscopes—a top priority—are part of the telescope pointing system, and half of the old ones are broken. The two space walkers ventured out as the shuttle and telescope sailed 350 miles above the Atlantic Ocean. "It is a beautiful day outside," one said. More»

(NEWSER) - The Hubble space telescope got some improved vision today in the form of a new camera. Two Atlantis astronauts completed a seven-hour spacewalk to give the 19-year-old telescope a much-needed upgrade, Space.com reports. "Woo-hoo, it's moving out," said astronaut Andrew Feustel after the old camera refused to budge at first. The spacewalk is the first of five planned over the shuttle's 11-day mission to service Hubble. More»

(AP) - The Atlantis astronauts have captured the Hubble Space Telescope, grabbing the orbiting observatory early this afternoon for the first time since 2002. Astronaut Megan McArthur caught the school bus-sized telescope with the space shuttle's robot arm. The crew now faces five days of treacherous telescope repairs to the 19-year-old Hubble. More»

(AP) - The space shuttle Atlantis and seven astronauts blasted off today en route to the Hubble Space Telescope. It is NASA's final trip to Hubble and comes after a seven-month delay. Atlantis and its crew were supposed to fly to Hubble last fall, but the telescope broke down. The telescope is in need of new equipment and repairs, and the shuttle should arrive at the orbiting observatory Wednesday. More»

(USER SUBMITTED) - A new instrument on the Hubble Space Telescope has captured evidence of a Sun-like star "eating" a nearby planet. The planet, called Wasp-12b, may only have another 10 million years left before it is devoured, the BBC reports . So close to its star that it completes an orbit in 1.1 Earth days, it is superheated to more than 1,500C—the highest temperature of any known planet in the Milky Way—and distended to a football shape by powerful tidal forces, NASA adds . Because of this proximity, the planet's atmosphere has ballooned to nearly three times the radius of Jupiter and is spilling material on to the star. More»