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The 35th Anniversary of the Hubble Space Telescope (12 photos)
35 years ago, in April of 1990, the Hubble Space Telescope was launched into orbit aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery. Since then, NASA reports that Hubble has made “nearly 1.7 million observations, looking at approximately 55,000 astronomical targets,” bringing so much of the nearby universe into focus. Gathered here, a collection of amazing recent images—some published in celebration of Hubble’s 35th anniversary, others either newly-released or recently updated with new techniques. To receive an email notification every time new photo stories are published, sign up here. This towering structure of billowing gas and dark dust is only a small portion of the Eagle Nebula. More than nine light-years long and 7,000 light-years distant from Earth, this image of the nebula has been refreshed with the use of new processing techniques, and released as part of ESA/Hubble’s 35th anniversary celebrations. The cosmic cloud shown here is made of cold hydrogen gas, like the rest of the Eagle Nebula. In such regions of space new stars are born among the collapsing clouds. Hot, energetic and formed in great numbers, the stars unleash an onslaught of ultraviolet light and stellar winds that sculpt the gas clouds around them. This produces fantastical shapes like the narrow pillar with blossoming head that we see here. ( ESA / Hubble & NASA, K. Noll)
35 years ago, in April of 1990, the Hubble Space Telescope was launched into orbit aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery. Since then, NASA reports that Hubble has made “nearly 1.7 million observations, looking at approximately 55,000 astronomical targets,” bringing so much of the nearby universe into focus. Gathered here, a collection of amazing recent images—some published in celebration of Hubble’s 35th anniversary, others either newly-released or recently updated with new techniques.
To receive an email notification every time new photo stories are published, sign up here.
