NASA Photo ID: S90-20193           File Name: 10063626.jpg
  Film Type: 35mm BW                 Date Taken: 05/22/90
  Title: First image from HST wide field planetary camera (WFPC)
  Description:
  First image from HST wide field planetary camera (WFPC) is compared with a
  ground-based picture from Las Campanas, Chile Observatory of the same
  region of the sky.  The Las Campanas picture (left side) was taken with a
  100-inch telescope and is typical of high quality pictures obtained from
  the ground.  All objects seen are stars within the Milky Way Galaxy.  The
  images of the stars in the ground based picture are fuzzy and in some cases
  are overlapping, because of the smearing by the Earth's atmosphere.  The
  same stars in the HST image (right side) are sharper and well resolved, as
  shown by the double star at the top of the image.  By avoiding the Earth's
  atmosphere, HST gives sharper images and better resolution.  In this early
  engineering picture, the HST images are roughly 50 percent sharper than
  ground based images.          
  
  Subject terms:
  ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATORIES              
  HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE                  
  MILKY WAY GALAXY                        
  SPACEBORNE ASTRONOMY                    
  SPACEBORNE TELESCOPES                   
  STARS                                   
  

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