Hubble's vision prescription is changed

17 Jun 2002

The Hubble Space Telescope upgrade, completed this month by Space Shuttle astronauts, includes two major newly installed devices. The Near-Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS) will permit a look at the infrared radiation (doppler shifted from the ultraviolet) from young stars in very early galaxies. Meanwhile, the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) replaces the aging Faint Object Spectrograph and the Goddard High Resolution Spectrograph. STIS will be valuable for studying exotic objects like black holes and violent galaxies, and for searching for extrasolar planets, NASA reported.