Mission and observations
Hubble records observations with scientific instruments designed for astronomy. Tracking the spacecraft around Earth reveals where the observatory is physically located, but not the celestial object that its instruments are observing at that instant.
How to read the orbital position
The moving marker and orbit shown by CUPOLA represent an SGP4 prediction for NORAD 20580. The ground track is a geometric projection of the spacecraft's orbit; it is not the telescope's line of sight, exposure schedule or a stream of live Hubble photographs.
Important distinction
Where Hubble is above Earth and where its telescope points in the sky are different questions.
CUPOLA uses orbital elements and SGP4 to estimate position and ground track. These are mathematical predictions rather than directly measured real-time spacecraft coordinates. Old or unverified source data may prevent a current result from appearing.
Mission source
Read the spacecraft's scientific and operational background from the mission organization.
NASA — Hubble mission ↗