Hubble is alive—and delivering amazing images—after the successful mission that fixed it — arguably the most difficult in the history of the shuttle program. Today, PBS’ Nova tells all about it in the Hubble’s Amazing Rescue. Here’s the teaser. [PBS]

Apparently quite a few key observatories use lasers to adjust telescope optics for atmospheric turbulence. Those same lasers can damage Earth-observing satellites and so regulations on their usage have been getting stricter and stricter over the years. Now astronomers have had enough. They are happy to consult with the Air Force each time they point a laser at the sky to make sure that a satellite isn’t in the path, but it seems that the turnaround time is too long. I don’t see why they don’t just change it to a “We’ll have your analysis delivered in less than 30 minutes or you can point your lasers wherever you want” rule. [New Scientist]

Send your best entries to me at contests@gizmodo.com with Hubble Surprises in the subject line. Save your files as JPGs or GIFs, and use a FirstnameLastname.jpg naming convention using whatever name you want to be credited with. Send your work to me by next Tuesday morning, and I’ll pick three top winners and show off the rest of the best in our Gallery of Champions. Get to it!

Dubbed Ridge A, this magical spot in Antarctica provides such a clear view of the heavens that a “modestly-sized telescope there would be as powerful as the largest telescopes anywhere else on earth.” Scientists will be using the knowledge gained from the first Antarctic robotic viewing station, the PLATeau Observatory, to set up another ‘bot operated observatory station in this dry and cold place:

The simple observatory is, in the words of University of Arizona astronomer Craig Kulesa, a steel shipping container that scientists “cut in half and insulated the crap out of.”

Well, not everything has to be high tech, right? Hacked together or not, the robot-manned observatories are significant not only of the data they provide, but also because of the savings in comparison to a space mission for the same photos:

Getting a kilogram of anything into orbit costs thousands of dollars. The cost of getting a kilogram to Ridge A is about $US10.

This means that the National Science Foundation is getting a heck of a lot of research done without the benefits of a NASA-sized budget. Not to mention that robots are far cooler than rockets anyway. [Wired]

“This breakthrough camera is without an equivalent anywhere in the world,” says Norbert Hubin, head of the Adaptive Optics for ESO space agency. “The camera will enable great leaps forward in many areas of the study of the universe.”

Ok, so the images are only 240 x 240, but it does produces around 10x digital noise than current VLT cameras. A mixture of speed and sensitivity like that is no small achievement. Images from the ground could be as crisp as those taken from space. [TechRadar]

The mystery event was a “firefly” type flare some 2 billion light years away from Earth. The event occurred in the middle of a void. Nothing should have been there, and yet, there this flare was, lasting 100 days or so before fading away into nothingness. That’s about 80 days longer than a traditional super nova.

Today, however, astronomers might have an answer: It was “just” your average run-of-the-mill rogue “free floating” black hole eating a star that was, until said black hole devoured it, residing in a galaxy too dim to view using existing technology.

Lucky for us, one of Hubble’s new additions could help us find more “fireflies” in the void. The Wide Field Camera 3, installed by members of the Atlantis crew earlier this month, might be able to determine if there was actually a host galaxy around the mysterious flare that was just too faint to see (thereby making this one-of-a-kind flare a bit more common). [New Scientist]

Barring its mildly inauspicious start, the mission appears to have gone well so far, netting us stunning photos, fascinating live video of the repairs, and of course, years and years of mind-boggling Hubble imagery to look forward to.

One thing: NASA’s aggressive, wide new online strategy has been great, and given regular people previously unimaginable levels of information and engagement with the program, but some things are best left unadvertised. Ahem:

Atlantis’ crew woke up this morning at 4:31 a.m. EDT to “Lie in Our Graves” performed by the Dave Matthews Band. It was played for astronaut Megan McArthur.

Not that a frumpy musical choice could put a ding in the astronauts’ unassailable coolness, but early morning orbital jam band sessions seem like they should be kept private, away from the wide, judgmental eyes of the next generation of potential astronauts. [NASA]

Shot just after launch, the image shows the faraway scene as viewed through a Takahashi TOA-130 refractor telescope (focal length 2200mm) and a Baader solar prism, which gives the Sun its muted look. Strapped to the back of the telescope, the 5D was set to ISO 100 and a 1/8000 shutter speed, the camera’s extreme low and high settings, respectively [Edit: woops, the Mk II actually does ISO 50]. Legault used the free online Celestial Observer tool to calculate the best time to shoot from his location. Meanwhile, that little silhouette is the scene of an incredibly complex and dangerous Hubble rescue mission, which will repair a number of the craft’s instruments, install a new camera and ensure that NASA’s flagship orbital telescope keeps sending us amazing images for years to come.

Check out the unbelievable uncropped photos at Legault’s site. —Note: It should be obvious, but don’t try anything like this unless you know exactly what you’re doing. Your eyes, they will burn. [Thierry Legault via Daily Mail]

Everything seems to be going ok right now, although they are having some problems with one of their cameras.