Hubble was recently serviced in May of 2009 to install two new instruments and make a few repairs. Since the servicing, Hubble was undergoing testing and calibration. It stayed this way until July 23, 2009 when NASA engineers woke the telescope up to snap a few photos. Hubble captured images of a scar in Jupiter’s appearance. It seems that a small comet or asteroid disintegrated in Jupiter’s atmosphere leaving behind the fairly large black scar. Waking the Hubble Space Telescope up for the photo shoot will add delays to the calibrating and getting the telescope fully operating. NASA scientists find it worth it though as this is only the second time debris colliding with Jupiter has been recorded.

Interesting facts About The Hubble Space Telescope

• Hubble was funded for in the 1970′s but did not launch until April 1990 due to technical delays and the Challenger Disaster.
• Hubble is the only satellite designed to be serviced in space by astronauts.
• The orbit height of Hubble is 347 miles.
• The orbit length of Hubble is 96 to 97 minutes long.
• The orbit velocity is 25,000 ft/s (or 7,500 m/s).
• Hubble Space Telescope is named after Edwin Hubble who help change understandings by demonstrating the existence of galaxies other than the Milky Way.
• Hubble originally cost $1.5 billion to build, but costs for maintenance and repairs have already added up to around $10 billion
• Hubble is so accurate that aiming it is like holding a laser on a dime that is 200 miles away.

What has the Hubble Space Telescope discovered?

• Hubble has discovered the rate of expansion of the universe to an accuracy of within 10%.
• Hubble has taken images of galaxies that are billions of light years away.
• Hubble discovered that dark energy is a constant presence in our universe.
• The telescope helped astronomers put an age on the universe of about 13 or 14 billion years old.
• Hubble has taken pictures of large gamma ray explosions.

NASA has a webpage telling you the location including the altitude. You can check it out by clicking here. Very Cool!