>Hello, My name is Thomas, I am a amature astronomer
>myself and I was wondering if you could answer a
>question for me and my 9th grade Earth and Space
>science class? We are wondering why all of the Hubble
>Space Telescope pictures are missing part of the
>top-left corner of the pictures??
>

Hello Thomas!

This is a very good question. When the Hubble telescope was first
launched, people discovered that the mirror was shaped wrong, and the
images could not be focused very well. Luckily, the Space Telescope was
built to be repaired, and so astronauts were able to put in new cameras
with mirrors that corrected Hubble's vision.

The Wide-Field/Planetary Camera (WFPC) design required its own set of
corrective optics, and so the WFPC2 camera was built. The mirrors inside
the camera block part of the incoming light, and so one of the four large
chips that make up the camera was removed and replaced with a smaller
square. So, the HST images now look like a Stealth Bomber.

Currently astronomers are designing a new camera called the HST Advanced
Camera to replace WFPC2 sometime in 2001. This camera will not be missing
a segment, and so the pictures will look more normal!

Thanks for writing,

Kurtis Williams

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