Throughout its existence, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has taken a plethora of amazing photographs; here are five of the most impressive.
Space.com said Hubble Space Telescope (or just Hubble for short) was launched by the US space agency on April 24, 1990.
The telescope, named after astronomer Edwin Powell Hubble (1889-1953), has been hovering about 340 miles (547 kilometers) above Earth's surface, completing 15 orbits every day.
Along with the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory, the Chandra X-ray Observatory, and the Spitzer Space Telescope, it is one of NASA's four major observatories.
Hubble is responsible for many scientific discoveries that have advanced mankind's understanding of the cosmos.
While the telescope has a broad list of accomplishments, some of its more famous successes include assisting astronomers in determining the universe's age and measuring its expansion rate.
IN SPACE: (FILE PHOTO) In this handout from the National Aeronautical Space Administration (NASA), the Hubble Space Telescope drifts through space in a picture taken from the Space Shuttle Discovery during Hubble?s second servicing mission in 1997. NASA annouced October 31, 2006 that hte space agency would send a space shuttle to the Hubble Telescope for a fifth repair mission no earlier than May of 2008.
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NASA dubs the equipment "one of humanity's greatest scientific discoveries."
The gadget has made over one million observations since its inception.
Many have comprehensive images of star birth and death and galaxies billions of light-years away.
Below is the list of some of the most incredible photographs the gadget has recorded over the last decade.
1. Pillars of Creation (Jan. 5, 2015)
NASA published this photograph of a portion of the Eagle Nebula on January 5, 2015.
The image was taken in near-infrared light by Hubble scientists to reveal magnificent star intricacies hidden beneath the nebula, which is made up of gas and dust clouds.
At the summits of the pillars, new stars may be observed that aren't apparent in visible light photos.
2. Veil Nebula (Sept. 24, 2015)
According to NASA, this picture, released on September 24, 2015, depicts a part of the expanding leftovers of a supernova explosion that occurred 8,000 years ago.
The space debris, known as the Veil Nebula, is located around 2,100 light-years distant in the constellation Cygnus, the Swan.
The nebula as a whole is 110 light-years wide.
3. Herbig-Haro Jet HH24 (Dec. 17, 2015)
NASA called the image a "cosmic, double-bladed lightsaber."
A young star, partially obscured by dust, bursts off luminous twin jets in the image's center.
The image was revealed on December 17, 2015, only a few days before the premiere of "Star Wars: Episode VII: The Force Awakens."
4. Saturn Opposition (June 6, 2018)
Hubble obtained one of the most famous images of Saturn.
NASA published the image on June 6, 2018, and it showed Saturn's gorgeous ring system in great detail.
When the photograph was obtained, Saturn was just around 1.36 billion miles away from Earth, about as near as it ever came to us.
5. Butterfly Nebula (June 18, 2020)
On June 18, 2020, NASA revealed one of the most spectacular photographs of NGC 6302, often known as the "Butterfly Nebula."
It shows the Butterfly Nebula in all light wavelengths, from near-ultraviolet to near-infrared, to help "researchers better comprehend the dynamics at work in its technicolor 'wings' of gas," according to Nasa.
The nebula's wing, which are areas of hot gas exceeding 36,000 degrees Fahrenheit, is created by the star(s) in its core.
In the constellation Scorpius, NGC 6302 is located between 2,500 and 3,800 light-years distant.
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