Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!sdd.hp.com!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!unmvax!pprg.unm.edu!topgun!mustang!nntp-server.caltech.edu!nntp-server.caltech.edu!jarthur!uunet!ns-mx!iowasp.physics.uiowa.edu!maverick.ksu.ksu.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!wuarchive!mi From: irwin@iago.caltech.edu (Horowitz, Irwin Kenneth) Newsgroups: sci.space.shuttle Subject: Re: Message-ID: <1990Sep21.232044.13108@nntp-server.caltech.edu> Date: 21 Sep 90 22:15:40 GMT Sender: news@nntp-server.caltech.edu Reply-To: irwin@iago.caltech.edu Distribution: sci Organization: California Institute of Technology Lines: 26 Nntp-Posting-Host: iago.caltech.edu In article <1990Sep21.195606.19385@athena.mit.edu>, hch@athena.mit.edu (Hernando A Cortina) writes... >What's happening to the HST ? What about those expected "spectacular" shots of >pluto using the wide-field/planetary camera ? >Also, what happened to the idea of using the primary mirror's actuators to >correct for the shape defect ? > -Hernando. In an article I posted in July, quoting Jim Westphal's description of the problems with HST's mirror, they can't correct for spherical aberration using the actuators because they were designed to correct for astigmatism in the system, and were specifically meant to NOT introduce any spherical aberration by being placed at the nodal positions for that type of aberration. They are therefore unable to correct for the mirror aberration using the actuators. As for your other question concerning the "spectacular" photos, they have recently released some data of SN 1987a and a number of other objects which have been recently observed by HST. Check out MIT's Center for Space Research (I am sure that someone there would have those photos somewhere). ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Irwin Horowitz |"Suppose they went nowhere?"-McCoy Astronomy Department |"Then this will be your big chance California Institute of Technology | to get away from it all!"-Kirk irwin@romeo.caltech.edu | from STII:TWOK ih@deimos.caltech.edu | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------