Dear Hubble, I lov...

I learned today that The Hubble Space Telescope will complete it's mission in 2010. On April 24, 1990 the Hubble began it's mission with a faulty mirror, it has, since it's repair, given us some of the most stunning images of our cosmos.

The Hubble is named after Edwin Hubble, who proved that our universe was expanding, and provided the groundwork for the Big Bang Theory.

It is sad to me to think of the Hubble slowly over the 4 years following 2010, descending into our atmosphere and ultimately burning up. It seems unlikely that NASA will take on the risk of retrieving the satellite, however, I would love to some day see it sitting in The National Air and Space Museum.

I wonder what the next space telescope will look like, better yet, what will the images it returns to us look like. As advanced as the Hubble is, I cannot imagine what will be sent up in it's place. In the mean time, see The Best of the Hubble.

-- update --
Here is the successor to Hubble
Here is the Space Telescope Science Institute