NASA Hubble Space Telescope gets back its most advanced camera

Earlier this month, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope lost its most advanced Wide Field Camera 3. The camera ran into a hardware issue, due to which it had to be suspended. Well, the latest update from the space agency says that Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3 resumed science observations, capturing pictures of the distant objects in our universe again starting January 17.

Wide Field Camera 3 was brought back to full operational status and completed its first science observations just after noon EST today. 

For more info: https://t.co/ETEDYPwDtd

— Hubble (@NASAHubble) January 17, 2019

After investigating the camera, NASA said that voltage levels went ahead of their safe values which resulted in the suspension of the camera. Further evaluations revealed that the voltage levels were fine, but telemetry circuits, that collect data from the telescope, "were not accurate." NASA had to reset those circuits to bring them back to operations.

While the Wide Field Camera 3 was shut, Hubble's other instruments continued to operate as usual. The space agency says that the telescope will be functional beyond 2025, which means it has been there searching and snapping distant objects for 35 years. During this time, it managed to capture some breathtaking images of the cosmos and helped astronomers understand the dark matter better.

The telescope before losing its most advanced camera captured some gorgeous views. A new composite made of several individual images gave us a glimpse of the nearby Triangulum galaxy in high detail. It clicked 54 different photos of the galaxy. Collectively, those images translate to a whopping 665 million pixels.

Operated by NASA and the ESA, the Hubble telescope was launched back in the year 1990. The Wide Field Camera 3 was added to its arsenal in 2009, during its last servicing which extended the telescope's life by another 20 years.