Fine Guidance Sensor (FGS) for the Hubble Space Telescope is a system of three instruments used for pointing the telescope in space, and also for astrometry and its related sciences.[2] To enable aiming the telescope at a specific spot in the sky, each FGS combines optics and electronics.[2] There are three Hubble FGS, and they have been upgraded over the lifetime of the telescope by crewed Space Shuttle missions.[3] The instruments can support pointing of 2 milli-arc seconds (units of degree).[4] The three FGS are part of the Hubble Space Telescope's Pointing Control System, aka PCS.[5] The FGS function in combination with the Hubble main computer and gyroscopes, with the FGS providing data to the computer as sensors which enables the HST to track astronomical targets.[6]
The FGS can be used to locate something in space, and then lock-on to it.[7] It can provide the movements the telescope must make to keep the object in view, for the main instruments to record data on.[8]
The FGS were originally made by the optics company Perkin-Elmer, and as removable and repairable instruments it has been possible to refurbish them over the lifetime of the telescope.[8] The first replacement FGS was installed in 1997, swapping out FGS1.[5]
In May 2009, on STS-125 a FGS was replaced during the mission to the Hubble telescope by the Space Shuttle.[9] The astronaut crew performed an EVA (spacewalk) to service the FGS and other components on the telescope in Earth orbit.[9] This was the SM4 mission.[6]
An example of astrometry science with the Hubble FGS system is observations of the Low-Mass Binary star system L722-22.[10] Observations were taken of the system in 1990s, and the data helped determine the mass of each of the components of L722-22, which is also known as LHS 1047 and GJ 1005.[10]
The FGS are white-light shearing interferometers.[5] The FGS weigh 220 kg (485 lb) and have dimensions of roughly 0.5 m × 1.0 m × 1.6 meters.[11]