Back Matter
The Snapshot Statement
This book is a snapshot, and it says so on purpose.
Everything in it describes matters as they stood in November 2026. At that date: the Hubble Space Telescope was in its thirty-seventh year in orbit, conducting science in one-gyroscope mode, its orbit decayed to below 500 kilometres, with a predicted re-entry in 2033–34 and a NASA Request for Information on commercial boost, servicing, or disposal open for responses until 30 November 2026. The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope had launched on 30 August 2026, had completed its comprehensive checkout, and had entered science commissioning while cruising to the Sun–Earth L2 point, with orbit insertion expected in early December 2026 and its first science images expected by early 2027. No Roman science images existed at the time of writing, and none is presented in this book as existing.
Telescope status changes faster than books do. Later printings and the free site editions of this book are updated in place as the record changes, and each updated edition carries a version line and a date. Where an edition and the sky disagree, the sky is right — check the version line, and check the missions' own pages.
Sources
Compiled from the research reports prepared for this book (November 2026), drawing on the makers' and archives' own publications. Principal sources:
NASA — Hubble Space Telescope
- NASA, The History of Hubble and Hubble History Timeline (full text), science.nasa.gov
- NASA, Hubble's Mirror Flaw, science.nasa.gov
- NASA, Hubble Servicing Missions Timeline, science.nasa.gov
- NASA, NASA to Change How It Points Hubble Space Telescope (4 June 2024; updated 27 May 2026)
- NASA, NASA Explores Potential Commercial Servicing for Hubble Telescope (30 October 2026; updated 3 November 2026)
- NASA, About Hubble / Hubble facts, science.nasa.gov
- NASA, Hubble vs. Webb and Hubble vs. Roman, science.nasa.gov
- NASA, Hubble's Deep Fields gallery, science.nasa.gov
- NASA Goddard, The Hubble Program — Timeline; Hubble Technology — Summary
- NASA Goddard Astrophysics press releases (including the 200,000th-orbit release, 23 September 2026)
- NASA, Dr. Nancy Grace Roman (biography), science.nasa.gov/people/nancy-roman
- NASA, Four Successful Women Behind the Hubble Space Telescope's Achievements (2020)
ESA/Hubble
- ESA/Hubble, Fact Sheet, esahubble.org
- ESA/Hubble, Hubble celebrates 35th year in orbit (heic2505, 23 April 2025)
- ESA/Hubble press releases, including heic2601 (Cloud-9, January 2026) and heic2203 (Earendel)
Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI)
- HubbleSite and the Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes (MAST)
- STScI releases and plate records for the Hubble Deep Field, Ultra Deep Field, eXtreme Deep Field, and Legacy Field
- STScI, Roman Research Nexus / MAST archive announcements (2026)
NASA — Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope
- NASA, Roman mission pages: Timeline; Building Roman; Roman Launch; Frequently Asked Questions; Wide Field Instrument — Technical, science.nasa.gov
- NASA, Roman mission blog, August–October 2026 — posts of 31 August (first mid-course correction), 1 September (antenna and aperture cover; Coronagraph power-on), 14 September (fuel), 15 September (Wide Field Instrument activation), 25 September (ground stations), 30 September (guidance and first Coronagraph test observation), 14 October (focus checkout), and 22 October 2026 (entry into science commissioning), science.nasa.gov/blogs/roman
- NASA news release, NASA Telescope Named for "Mother of Hubble" Nancy Grace Roman (20 May 2020)
- NASA, Roman Space Telescope illustrations and image galleries (artist concepts are credited as such wherever used)
U.S. Government Accountability Office
- GAO-26-108556 (July 2026) — Roman life-cycle cost and schedule record
Plate imagery was drawn from the official archives listed above. NASA media terms and ESA/Hubble's Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 terms for post-2008 material were applied plate by plate; see Plate Credits.
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Plate Credits
- Pillars of Creation — original (1995) — Jeff Hester and Paul Scowen (Arizona State University), and NASA/ESA
- Pillars of Creation — revisit (2014) — NASA, ESA/Hubble and the Hubble Heritage Team
- Hubble Deep Field (1995) — Robert Williams and the Hubble Deep Field Team and NASA
- Hubble Ultra Deep Field (2004) — NASA, ESA, and S. Beckwith (STScI) and the HUDF Team
- Hubble eXtreme Deep Field (2012) — NASA, ESA, G. Illingworth, D. Magee, and P. Oesch (University of California, Santa Cruz), R. Bouwens (Leiden University), and the HUDF09 Team
- Hubble Legacy Field (2019) — NASA, ESA, and G. Illingworth (University of California, Santa Cruz; UCO/Lick Observatory)
- Veil Nebula (2015) — NASA, ESA, Hubble Heritage Team
- Antennae Galaxies (2013) — ESA/Hubble & NASA
- Frontier Fields — Abell 2744 (2014) — NASA, ESA, and J. Lotz, M. Mountain, A. Koekemoer, and the HFF Team (STScI)
- Eagle Nebula tower (2005) — NASA, ESA, and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)
- Nancy Grace Roman at NASA — NASA
- The Roman observatory in the Goddard clean room — NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center/Michael Guinto
- The Wide Field Instrument and payload integration — NASA/Chris Gunn
- Artist concept — Roman at Sun–Earth L2 (simulation) — NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
- Roman launches, 30 August 2026 — NASA/Joel Kowsky
- Roman launches — second vantage — NASA/John Kraus
- WFI first-photons engineering test frame — NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Tyler Desjardins (STScI)
- Simulated Roman wide-field survey view (simulation) — NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center and A. Yung
- The two mirrors — Hubble's and Roman's — NASA (Hubble mirror, left); NASA/Chris Gunn (Roman mirror, right)
- Cover image — Pillars of Creation, revisit (2014): NASA, ESA/Hubble and the Hubble Heritage Team