Editing Hubble Space Telescope (section)

=== Impact on astronomy ===
[[File:Hubble Probes the Early Universe.jpg|thumb|upright=2.4|alt=Depiction of progress in the detection of the early Universe|Evolution of detecting the [[Timeline of the Big Bang|early Universe]]]]
[[File:Hs-2009-25-e-full.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Some of the Carina nebula by WFC3]]

Many objective measures show the positive impact of Hubble data on astronomy. As of 2025, over 22,000 [[Scientific paper|papers]] based on Hubble data have been published in peer-reviewed journals,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://archive.stsci.edu/hst/bibliography/pubstat.html |title=HST Publication Statistics |publisher=STScI |access-date=December 26, 2017 |archive-date=May 14, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190514172346/http://archive.stsci.edu/hst/bibliography/pubstat.html |url-status=live }}</ref> and countless more have appeared in conference [[proceedings]]. Looking at papers several years after their publication, about one-third of all astronomy papers have no [[citation]]s, while only two percent of papers based on Hubble data have no citations. On average, a paper based on Hubble data receives about twice as many citations as papers based on non-Hubble data. Of the 200 papers published each year that receive the most citations, about 10% are based on Hubble data.<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://www.stsci.edu/%7Ewebdocs/STScINewsletter/2003/spring_03.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.stsci.edu/%7Ewebdocs/STScINewsletter/2003/spring_03.pdf |archive-date=October 9, 2022 |url-status=live |title=Hubble Science Metrics |journal=Newsletter |publisher=Space Telescope Science Institute |first1=Georges |last1=Meylan |first2=Juan |last2=Madrid |first3=Duccio |last3=Macchetto |volume=20 |issue=2 |date=Spring 2003}}</ref>

Although the HST has clearly helped astronomical research, its financial cost has been large. A study on the relative astronomical benefits of different sizes of telescopes found that while papers based on HST data generate 15 times as many citations as a {{convert|4|m|ft|abbr=on|adj=on}} ground-based telescope such as the [[William Herschel Telescope]], the HST costs about 100 times as much to build and maintain.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Benn |first1=C. R. |last2=Sánchez |first2=S. F. |date=2001 |title=Scientific Impact of Large Telescopes |journal=Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific |volume=113 |issue=781 |pages=385–396 |arxiv=astro-ph/0010304 |bibcode=2001PASP..113..385B |doi=10.1086/319325 |s2cid=204931773}}</ref>

Deciding between building ground- versus space-based telescopes is complex. Even before Hubble was launched, specialized ground-based techniques such as [[aperture masking interferometry]] had obtained higher-resolution optical and infrared images than Hubble would achieve, though restricted to targets about 10<sup>8</sup> times brighter than the faintest targets observed by Hubble.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Haniff |first1=C. A. |last2=Mackay |first2=C. D. |last3=Titterington |first3=D. J. |last4=Sivia |first4=D. |last5=Baldwin |first5=J. E. |display-authors=4 |date=August 1987 |title=The first images from optical aperture synthesis |journal=[[Nature (journal)|Nature]] |volume=328 |issue=6132 |pages=694–696 |bibcode=1987Natur.328..694H |doi=10.1038/328694a0 |s2cid=4281897}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |author=Buscher |first1=D. F. |last2=Baldwin |first2=J. E. |last3=Warner |first3=P. J. |last4=Haniff |first4=C. A. |date=July 1990 |title=Detection of a bright feature on the surface of Betelgeuse |journal=Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society |volume=245 |page=7 |bibcode=1990MNRAS.245P...7B}}</ref> Since then, advances in [[adaptive optics]] have extended the high-resolution imaging capabilities of ground-based telescopes to the infrared imaging of faint objects. The usefulness of adaptive optics versus HST observations depends strongly on the particular details of the research questions being asked. In the visible bands, adaptive optics can correct only a relatively small field of view, whereas HST can conduct high-resolution optical imaging over a wider field.<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal |last=Williams |first=Robert |date=April 1, 2020 |title=Hubble telescope 30 years in orbit: personal reflections |url=https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1674-4527/20/4/44 |journal=Research in Astronomy and Astrophysics |volume=20 |issue=4 |pages=044 |doi=10.1088/1674-4527/20/4/44 |arxiv=2004.12132 |bibcode=2020RAA....20...44W |s2cid=218517143 |access-date=April 7, 2022 |archive-date=April 7, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220407051942/https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1674-4527/20/4/44 |url-status=live }}</ref> Moreover, Hubble can image more faint objects, since ground-based telescopes are affected by the background of scattered light created by the Earth's atmosphere.<ref name=":4">{{Cite web |last=Max |first=Claire |author-link=Claire Ellen Max |date=2001 |title=Introduction to Adaptive Optics and its History |url=https://cfao.ucolick.org/EO/resourcesnew/History_AO_Max.pdf |access-date=April 7, 2022 |website=Center for Adaptive Optics |archive-date=April 12, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220412003424/https://cfao.ucolick.org/EO/resourcesnew/History_AO_Max.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>