Humanity in glasses: Documentary celebrates the 25th anniversary of the launch of the Hubble telescope

One of the most remarkable passages of General Field (Manuelzão and Miguilim), a monumental work by Guimarães Rosa, narrates the moment when the character Miguilim, after putting glasses, starts to see the world in a different way. Your old world takes on a new, sharper view. It is the symbology of growth, which constitutes a rite of passage. Seeing the world more clearly means entering adulthood, leaving childhood.

Rosa's beautiful passage on the rediscovery of the universe serves perfectly as a metaphor to describe what the Hubble Space Telescope had for humanity. There is 25 years, NASA started one of the most ambitious experiments in the history of astronomy that changed forever our understanding of the cosmos and our place in it.

The telescope helped astronomers identify the age of the universe, revealed the location of birth of stars and planets, advancing our understanding of the dark matter and the cosmic expansion, in addition to discovering black holes hidden in the center of galaxies. For more than a generation, stunning images of the Hubble brought the beauty of the skies to millions of human beings, revealing a universe richer and more wonderful than we imagined.

But the history of this landmark of astronomy is not only made of discoveries, but also of a lot of work. Qwhen the Hubble sent first images back to Earth, it looked like the whole project had been a huge failure; a failure in the engineering of its lenses had turned the billion-dollar telescope into a fiasco. it was up to 5 heroic astronauts, in a daring mission, to return the Hubble to the forefront of science.

In honor of the anniversary of the beginning of the activities of the Hubble, the video channel PBS NEW produced a medium-length documentary on the history of Hubble. O NOVA listened to scientists and engineers on the project's front lines as they revealed behind-the-scenes details of this remarkable telescope, which since its launch has helped humanity get out of its “cosmic childhood".

The documentary has 55 minutes in duration and is in English (without subtitles in Portuguese), which shouldn't be a big obstacle to understanding and understanding its history. Be sure to watch (video below) and see how a small change in the way you look can mean understanding what we are. It is also possible to view many of the thousands of Hubble images accessed from its Official Site. There you will also find a special space dedicated to the 25th anniversary.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzXPui4dYbk

Source: PBS NEW.