1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:02,000 Over two decades in orbit 2 00:00:02,000 --> 00:00:04,000 the Hubble Space Telescope has made a huge 3 00:00:04,000 --> 00:00:05,000 number of observations. 4 00:00:05,000 --> 00:00:08,000 Every week, we publish new ones 5 00:00:08,000 --> 00:00:10,000 on the Hubble website. 6 00:00:10,000 --> 00:00:12,000 But hidden in Hubble’s data archives 7 00:00:12,000 --> 00:00:13,000 are some truly breathtaking images 8 00:00:13,000 --> 00:00:16,000 that have hardly ever been seen. 9 00:00:16,000 --> 00:00:18,000 We call them Hubble’s Hidden Treasures 10 00:00:18,000 --> 00:00:22,000 and we’re looking for your help to bring them to light. 11 00:00:38,000 --> 00:00:42,000 Episode 53: Hidden Treasures in Hubble's Archive 12 00:00:45,000 --> 00:00:49,000 Presented by Dr J, aka Dr Joe Liske 13 00:00:49,000 --> 00:00:51,000 Hello and welcome. 14 00:00:51,000 --> 00:00:54,000 Now, usually in the Hubblecast we look up into space. 15 00:00:54,000 --> 00:00:58,000 But in this episode we’ve got our feet firmly on the ground. 16 00:00:58,000 --> 00:01:02,000 That’s because there’s a lot going on down here on Earth 17 00:01:02,000 --> 00:01:05,000 in order to support what Hubble does up there in space. 18 00:01:05,000 --> 00:01:09,000 One of the biggest parts of this is the Hubble Legacy Archive 19 00:01:09,000 --> 00:01:15,000 a huge digital library of practically every observation Hubble has ever made. 20 00:01:15,000 --> 00:01:18,000 Now that’s over a million observations. 21 00:01:18,000 --> 00:01:22,000 So it’s not too surprising that it’s pretty hard to stay aware 22 00:01:22,000 --> 00:01:25,000 of the full range of what’s in there. 23 00:01:51,000 --> 00:01:54,000 Hubble’s instruments are a bit like giant digital cameras 24 00:01:54,000 --> 00:01:56,000 with the telescope as their lens. 25 00:01:56,000 --> 00:01:59,000 Just like digital cameras, Hubble produces a lot of data 26 00:01:59,000 --> 00:02:02,000 about 3 to 400 gigabytes a month. 27 00:02:02,000 --> 00:02:07,000 Obviously it wouldn’t be practical to send astronauts up to collect it all. 28 00:02:07,000 --> 00:02:11,000 Instead, Hubble bristles with communications antennas 29 00:02:11,000 --> 00:02:14,000 which beam the observations down to Earth. 30 00:02:14,000 --> 00:02:16,000 But let’s step back a little. 31 00:02:16,000 --> 00:02:19,000 What is all this information that is being beamed down? 32 00:02:19,000 --> 00:02:21,000 And who looks at the data? 33 00:02:24,000 --> 00:02:27,000 Getting observing time with Hubble is a privilege. 34 00:02:27,000 --> 00:02:30,000 It takes a lot of hard work and insight 35 00:02:30,000 --> 00:02:33,000 to prepare a successful set of observations. 36 00:02:33,000 --> 00:02:36,000 To protect their investment, and give them the first stab 37 00:02:36,000 --> 00:02:37,000 at working on their scientific idea 38 00:02:37,000 --> 00:02:41,000 astronomers get a year to study their data before it's released to the public. 39 00:02:41,000 --> 00:02:46,000 And that’s when many of the scientific discoveries you hear about get made. 40 00:02:47,000 --> 00:02:51,000 But that first year is only the beginning for Hubble data. 41 00:02:51,000 --> 00:02:55,000 Once it’s made public, absolutely anyone can have a look at it 42 00:02:55,000 --> 00:02:57,000 and see what Hubble has been up to. 43 00:02:57,000 --> 00:03:02,000 Often, astronomers will make big discoveries using these second-hand data 44 00:03:02,000 --> 00:03:05,000 sometimes many years after they were observed. 45 00:03:05,000 --> 00:03:08,000 For example, recent work on the growth of black holes 46 00:03:08,000 --> 00:03:12,000 and the properties of dark matter has come from archival data. 47 00:03:12,000 --> 00:03:17,000 In addition, comparing old data from the archive with new images from Hubble 48 00:03:17,000 --> 00:03:22,000 lets scientists see how astronomical objects evolve over time. 49 00:03:22,000 --> 00:03:25,000 A great example are Hubble’s movies of stellar jets 50 00:03:25,000 --> 00:03:28,000 which we looked at in Hubblecast 49. 51 00:03:31,000 --> 00:03:36,000 The Hubble Legacy Archive is priceless for astronomers — but it is not only for them. 52 00:03:36,000 --> 00:03:41,000 Hubble doesn’t just belong to scientists, it belongs to us all. 53 00:03:44,000 --> 00:03:46,000 Every week, we pick some of the nicest observations 54 00:03:46,000 --> 00:03:48,000 from the Hubble Legacy Archive 55 00:03:48,000 --> 00:03:51,000 process them to bring out their hidden detail 56 00:03:51,000 --> 00:03:55,000 and share our choice as the Hubble Picture of the Week. 57 00:03:55,000 --> 00:03:58,000 There are also amateur astronomers and hobbyists 58 00:03:58,000 --> 00:04:00,000 who go through the archive themselves 59 00:04:00,000 --> 00:04:03,000 and look for pretty datasets to process. 60 00:04:07,000 --> 00:04:08,000 Now the archive is pretty big, 61 00:04:08,000 --> 00:04:12,000 and there are still lots of undiscovered datasets in there to be found. 62 00:04:12,000 --> 00:04:17,000 So if you want to lend us a hand, and find some of Hubble’s Hidden Treasures 63 00:04:17,000 --> 00:04:20,000 check out our website, which explains how to do it. 64 00:04:20,000 --> 00:04:22,000 It’s pretty simple once you get the hang of it 65 00:04:22,000 --> 00:04:25,000 and we’ve prepared some tutorials to get you started. 66 00:04:27,000 --> 00:04:29,000 To say thanks for helping us out 67 00:04:29,000 --> 00:04:32,000 we’re running a competition between now and the end of May. 68 00:04:32,000 --> 00:04:37,000 Find a great dataset and you’ll be in with a chance to win an iPod Touch. 69 00:04:37,000 --> 00:04:40,000 And if you want to have a shot at processing the data 70 00:04:40,000 --> 00:04:43,000 like the professionals do, you could win an iPad. 71 00:04:43,000 --> 00:04:45,000 Check out the website for full details. 72 00:04:47,000 --> 00:04:49,000 Finding Hidden Treasures in the archive is a lot of fun 73 00:04:49,000 --> 00:04:53,000 and you can uncover some gems that have hardly ever been seen before. 74 00:04:53,000 --> 00:04:58,000 Now I’ll be back in a future episode to showcase the best pictures you find. 75 00:04:58,000 --> 00:05:02,000 But for now, this is Dr J signing off for the Hubblecast. 76 00:05:02,000 --> 00:05:07,000 Once again, nature has surprised us beyond our wildest imagination. 77 00:05:09,000 --> 00:05:14,000 Transcribed by ESA/Hubble.