The Hubble Space Telescope has returned to science operations after entering safe mode repeatedly over the past year due to issues with its gyroscopes. It is now operating with just one functional gyroscope instead of the normal three.
To showcase that it can still perform well with just one gyroscope, Hubble captured an image of the galaxy NGC 1546 located about 50 million light years away.
NGC 1546 is a “flocculent” spiral galaxy which has a messy, patchy structure to its arms rather than smooth curves. It shows dust lanes backlit by its bright core, as well as young blue star clusters.
This image is significant because it demonstrates Hubble can still function and carry out observations successfully with only one gyroscope, where it previously required three. Its productivity is estimated to drop by 25% but it can still point anywhere on the sky.
Overcoming obstacles like faulty gyroscopes shows Hubble’s resilience after 34 years in space. NASA expects many more years of discoveries from the telescope operating in its new single-gyroscope mode. The image of NGC 1546 was its first observation since returning to service.
Source: Space
