Hubble celebrates 25 years in orbit

For a quarter of a century, NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has peered deep into distant galaxies, revealing images of breathtaking beauty and rewriting our understanding of the cosmos

To mark occasion Hubble has revisited its most iconic image, providing wider, sharper view of Eagle Nebula, or “Pillars of Creation”,
first captured in 1995

Butterfly Nebula – one of first pictures taken following final astronaut servicing mission
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HUBBLE – FROM DREAM TO REALITY

1923: German scientist Hermann Oberth first speculates on telescopes in orbit

1946: American astrophysicist Lyman Spitzer writes paper discussing feasibility of space observatory

1977: U.S. Congress approves funding for space telescope

1983: Hubble Space Telescope named after renowned astronomer Edwin P. Hubble

1986: Launch delayed after Space Shuttle Challenger disaster

Apr 24, 1990: Hubble launched aboard shuttle Discovery. First pictures show telescope has “blurred vision” caused by slight distortion of main mirror

Dec 1993: Crew of seven fixes Hubble during five days of spacewalks. Wide-Field Planetary Camera 2, which later takes many of Hubble’s most famous images, installed

Three other shuttle missions between 1997 and 2002 repair and upgrade telescope

2004: Planned servicing mission cancelled following Columbia disaster in 2003

2009: Final servicing mission makes Hubble 100 times more powerful than when telescope was launched

2015: As Hubble celebrates 25th anniversary, scientists hope it will keep working for at least another five years

2018: Hubble’s successor, James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), scheduled for launch
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HUBBLE’S MAJOR ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Hubble has helped refine estimates of age of universe down to 13.75 billion years

Discovered that super-massive black holes may lurk in nearly all galaxies

Helped determine process of how planets are born

Detected first organic molecule – methane – discovered on planet outside our solar system

Found four new moons around dwarf planet Pluto

Provided evidence that mysterious form of “dark energy” is causing expansion of universe to accelerate
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Source: NASA

Pictures: NASA/ESA/Hubble Heritage Team, Associated Press, Getty Images