University of Colorado scientists have scored big in grabbing observation time on the recently refurbished Hubble Space Telescope.

The Boulder campus usually ranks first or second among public universities in being allotted much-coveted time on the orbiting observatory. This year has brought "a bumper crop of accepted proposals, CU astrophysicist Mike Shull said.

Of 25 proposals that CU submitted for the next year's observing schedule, 12 have been accepted. Out of Hubble's 3,000 orbits each year, CU has been awarded 287, or nearly 10 percent of time available to the international scientific community.

European scientists together usually garner 20 percent to 23 percent of the viewing, so we're right up there with all of Europe," Shull said.

CU projects will try to determine the age of stars, study a phase that all stars seem to undergo and explore the universe's chemical evolution.

Three years ago, CU had about 5 percent of the observing time. Shull, who is a member of the Hubble Time Allocation Committee, said CU has gotten a bigger piece of the pie, though a policy change means fewer but bigger programs are being selected.

The Hubble committee will make its official announcement of who will receive observation time in mid-February, but CU has received a list of its accepted projects.

Scientists have been eagerly lining up to use the Space telescope, which has circled Earth about 380 miles up for nearly a decade. The school-bus-sized telescope provides

breathtakingly clear views of quasars and newborn stars. Over Christmas, shuttle astronauts worked on the telescope, installing new gyroscopes, a new computer, a guidance sensor and a transmitter.

CU's Hubble projects, which begin in June, include a hefty 123 orbits awarded to astrophysics research associate Brad Gibson to determine the ages of stars. Scientists aren't sure which came first–the star or the galaxy–and by dating the age of what makes up galaxies, they hope they can get the sequence right.

Shull has 25 orbits allotted to study the chemical evolution of the universe.

In 30 orbits, astrophysicist John Morse wants to look into a protostellar jet, or a newly formed star, that spews out gas at 1 million mph as it collapses. The phase is something all stars apparently go through. Fran Bagenal plans to see if Jupipter's moon, Io, has the same type of volcanoes as those on Earth.