by Hugh Ross
The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) was launched in 1990 to help astronomers and physicists probe the wonders of the universe, especially to help refine their models of cosmic origins and development. As the world soon learned, however, the Hubble was hampered by faulty optics. While the fuzzy focus did not thwart all research projects, for most it was catastrophic.
Almost immediately astronomers began to plan and prepare for the day when a NASA shuttle team could be sent out to fix the problem. That day came this past December-and afterward the agonizing wait to discover how successful their repairs had been.
In January the first test photos were released, and the science community was elated. The repairs have achieved better than hoped for results. James Crocker of the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore said that the images "are about as close to perfection as engineering can achieve and the laws of physics will allow."
For the first time ever astronomers can see (in just these test photos) white dwarf stars in a globular cluster and dust lanes and spiral structure in the core of Galaxy M100. Such views will enable astronomers to produce a more accurate date for the creation of the universe and come to a greater understanding of how, where, and when stars like the sun form.
One of the highest priority projects for the repaired HST will be to make measurements on a certain class of stars, called Cepheid variables, to determine how distant they are. Knowing the distance can help researchers determine more accurately the universe's rate of expansion, which in turn will give us more details about how God created the universe.
Perhaps the most theologically significant work made possible by the repaired HST will be investigations of stellar, nebular, and galactic structures. The dramatically sharpened focus will no doubt reveal many features of the universe, galaxy, and solar system-more than we already recognize-that must be exquisitely fine-tuned by God for life to exist. The more we learn about the cosmos the more evidence we collect for the Creator's craftsmanship.