Goddard High Resolution Spectrograph

The Goddard High Resolution Spectrograph (GHRS or HRS) was an ultraviolet <a href="/facts/Spectrograph/BjshQbA8">spectrograph</a> installed on the <a href="/facts/Hubble_Space_Telescope/NQeIf0vw">Hubble Space Telescope</a> during its original construction, and it was launched into space as part of that space telescope aboard the <a href="/facts/Space_Shuttle/7BoyetEv">Space Shuttle</a> <a href="/facts/Space_Shuttle_Discovery/MmSTr4G0">Discovery</a> on April 24, 1990 (<a href="/facts/STS-31/daJMCUIY">STS-31</a>). The instrument is named after 20th century rocket pioneer <a href="/facts/Robert_H._Goddard/tYmyRRta">Robert H. Goddard</a>.
One of the results was the discovery of tenuous atmosphere for Jupiter's moon <a href="/facts/Europa_(moon)/2A9nleK3">Europa</a> in 1995. The gas was determined to be mostly of <a href="/facts/Oxygen/acyn6o8r">molecular oxygen</a> (O2). The surface pressure of Europa's atmosphere is 0.1 <a href="/facts/Pascal_(unit)/Am1To2Qm">μPa</a>, or 10−12 times that of the Earth.
An example GHRS use was to observe the local <a href="/facts/Interstellar_medium/mokU0WEz">interstellar medium</a> in the direction towards <a href="/facts/Capella/bNQTaAjQ">Capella</a>.
The Goddard High Resolution Spectrograph was removed from the Hubble Space Telescope during the February, 1997, Space Shuttle Discovery mission <a href="/facts/STS-82/5TKSly8H">STS-82</a> (also called SM-2 for Servicing Mission 2). It, and the <a href="/facts/Faint_Object_Spectrograph/aRp3Euxu">Faint Object Spectrograph</a>, were replaced by two new instruments installed during the mission, the <a href="/facts/Near_Infrared_Camera_and_Multi-Object_Spectrometer/hnP3GmkQ">Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer</a> (NICMOS) and the <a href="/facts/Space_Telescope_Imaging_Spectrograph/obppRqIS">Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph</a>.

Goddard High Resolution Spectrograph open-in-new

Goddard High Resolution Spectrograph