A newly released plot of the Hubble Space Telescope’s altitude shows just how quickly the observatory has descended in recent years.
The post on Bluesky by astronomer Jonathan McDowell is a stark reminder that Hubble is heading back to Earth, possibly sooner than previously thought, as its orbit decays.
Hubble was launched into low Earth orbit in 1990, carried in the payload bay of Space Shuttle Discovery. While it remains capable of pointing its instruments and has returned breathtaking imagery over more than three decades in orbit, it cannot raise its altitude.
Ugh, another Kessler Sydrome loon.
Go read the other user’s reply and then go touch grass. A lot of grass.
I’m not kidding. Roll in the grass, eat the grass, I don’t care. You just need to go outside and touch some grass because you’ve been cooped up inside for far too long