mission facts

Hubble Live 2009 Mission Facts
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Hubble's New Instruments

Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS)

COS will explore how the universe evolved from ancient times. COS will also sample the chemical content and physical state of gas in distant galaxy halos, providing important insight into the building process of early galaxies and the production of elements heavier than hydrogen and helium over cosmic time.

Required to accomplish these goals is the extraordinary sensitivity of COS's far-ultraviolet channel—a factor more than 30 times greater than that of previous spectroscopic instruments for the detection of extremely low light levels. A two-fold enhancement will be offered by COS's near-ultraviolet channel.