The Hubble Telescope turns 30 on Friday, marking three decades of space exploration and scientific discoveries. To celebrate, NASA has collected some of the most iconic, stunning images the bus-sized instrument has taken across its lengthy career.
The Hubble Telescope was launched from the John F. Kennedy Space Center in 1990, releasing its first image less than a month later. Though relatively unimpressive by today's standards, the monochrome picture of star cluster NGC 3532 was a leap in image resolution when compared to ground-based observations at the time.
Astronauts have upgraded the Hubble Telescope five times since then, and its photography skills have significantly improved. Capable of detecting ultraviolet, visible, and near-infrared light, the Hubble Telescope has made over 1.3 million observations and contributed data to over 17,000 scientific papers. Scientists have used its data to map dark matter, observe black holes, and even prepare the New Horizons spacecraft for its 2015 flyby of Pluto. Read more...
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