Star Mix-Up Snags Telescope Focusing

The Hubble Space Telescope’s gaze was diverted to an unexpectedly bright star during its first test-focusing, so the observatory’s first picture-taking has been delayed again, officials said Monday.

The $1.5-billion telescope, which officials had hoped would snap its first image of the heavens by Friday, will not be ready to take a picture before Saturday, officials said.

Even so, NASA astronomer Edward Weiler said, the telescope’s myriad electronic systems were operating properly and other work necessary to activate it was running ahead of schedule.

In five attempts over the weekend, the telescope failed to find and lock onto certain “guide stars” to fix its position for a 36-hour focusing process, officials said.

NASA engineers believe that the unexpected brightness of one star in its view caused the telescope to mistake it for one of the guide stars.

After the problem was discovered, engineers at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., and Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., instructed the telescope to ignore that star so the focusing procedure could be resumed, and it was repeated successfully Monday night.