The Hubble Space Telescope has changed our view of star/planet
formation, the final remnants of dying stars, galactic
interactions, and cosmology. Dark Matter and Dark Energy are
huge mysteries in Astronomy.
But we have to start with Edwin Hubble
http://edu-observatory.org/olli/tobbc/Week1.html
Tools: Spectra and Doppler Shift
What is Dark Matter?
Hubble Space Telescope's contributions to understanding Dark Matter
http://edu-observatory.org/olli/Hubble/Week6.html
Explanation: The matter in galaxy cluster 1E 0657-56, fondly
known as the "bullet cluster", is shown in this composite
image. A mere 3.4 billion light-years away, the bullet
cluster's individual galaxies are seen in the optical image
data, but their total mass adds up to far less than the mass
of the cluster's two clouds of hot x-ray emitting gas shown
in red. Representing even more mass than the optical
galaxies and x-ray gas combined, the blue hues show the
distribution of dark matter in the cluster. Otherwise
invisible to telescopic views, the dark matter was mapped by
observations of gravitational lensing of background
galaxies. In a text book example of a shock front, the
bullet-shaped cloud of gas at the right was distorted during
the titanic collision between two galaxy clusters that
created the larger bullet cluster itself. But the dark
matter present has not interacted with the cluster gas
except by gravity. The clear separation of dark matter and
gas clouds is considered direct evidence that dark matter
exists.
Hubble Space Telescope's contributions to understanding Dark Energy
http://edu-observatory.org/olli/Hubble/Week7.html
Test of Big Bang Cosmology
http://edu-observatory.org/olli/tobbc/index.html
Hubble's Greatest Hits
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2007/11/hubble/hubble-timeline-interactive
sam.wormley@gmail.com