Posted by Ed Cheng on January 02, 2000 at 15:41:59:
In Reply to: Re: weigt of Hubble posted by John on December 31, 1999 at 19:43:37:
> > My prof of physics gave us the assignment to look up the weight of the Hubble telescope. He wiil probably ask it on the exam of physics in January. So if anyone can help me, let me know the weight of The Hubble.
> > Thanks a lot!!
> > Bad Girl
> The weight of Hubble depends on its local acceleration due to gravity that it is subject to. In space Hubble is weightless, thus the weight would be 0 N. What you might want to know is Hubble's mass in kilograms which is independent of local gravity. This I don't know.
The Hubble weighs about 24000 lbs on Earth. That would be about 11000 kg.
It is about the size of a big tractor-trailer truck (I don't know if there
is a metric equivalent for this unit :>).
More seriously, your can compare this to a car, which weighs around one
or two tons (or roughly 1000 to 2000 kg). Thus, Hubble weighs as much
as 6 to 12 cars (depending on their size). It's not really phenomenally heavy.
To get really heavy stuff, look at big aircraft carriers and monster
skyscrapers!