As NASA’s Hubble telescope made its millionth observation on Monday, scientists were delighted by its ability to capture stunning images of the cosmos.
For 21 years Hubble has been the premier space science observatory, astounding us with deeply beautiful imagery and enabling ground-breaking science across a wide spectrum of astronomical disciplines, said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden.
Hubble, which turned 21 recently, was launched on April 24, 1990, aboard space shuttle's Discovery's STS-31 mission. Its discoveries in the last 21 years have revolutionized nearly all areas of astronomical research from planetary science to cosmology. It has captured nebulae of different shapes and ashtonished scientists with galaxies' images thousands of light years away.
Hubble images show the most spectacular views of the ever expanding universe.
According to NASA, the observatory has collected more than 50 terabytes of data.
The Hubble keeps amazing us with groundbreaking science, said Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski, the chairperson of the Senate Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee that funds NASA.
Hubble is a project of international cooperation between NASA and the European Space Agency.
Start the slideshow to view the most beautiful astronomical images captured by Hubble all these years.
This photograph of the coil-shaped Helix Nebula is one of the largest and most detailed celestial images ever made. The composite picture is a seamless blend of ultra-sharp images from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope combined with the wide view of the Mosaic Camera on the National Science Foundation's 0.9-meter telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory near Tucson, Arizona. The image shows a fine web of filamentary "bicycle-spoke" features embedded in the colorful red and blue ring of gas. At 650 light-years away, the Helix is one of the nearest planetary nebulae to Earth. A planetary nebula is the glowing gas around a dying, Sun-like star. The Helix appears to be round because we are looking at one end of the nebula. It is actually a trillion-mile-long tunnel of glowing gases. REUTERSJubilant astronomers unveiled April 30, 2002 humankind's most spectacular views of the universe as captured by the NASA Hubble Space Telescope's new Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS). REUTERSThis NASA Hubble Space Telescope image captures the chaotic activity atop a three-light-year-tall pillar of gas and dust that is being eaten away by the brilliant light from nearby bright stars. This turbulent cosmic pinnacle lies within a tempestuous stellar nursery called the Carina Nebula, located 7,500 light-years away from Earth in the southern constellation Carina. The image celebrates the 20th anniversary of Hubble's launch and deployment into an orbit around Earth. Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3 observed the pillar on Feb. 1-2, 2010.REUTERSImages taken from the Hubble Space Telescope, obtained on September 9, 2009, spotted a new butterfly-shaped galaxy and wisps of stardust containing the elements of life being recycled into new galaxies.REUTERSNASA's Hubble Space Telescope obtained images of the strikingly unusual planetary nebula, NGC 6751 IN 2000. Glowing in the constellation Aquila like a giant eye, the nebula is a cloud of gas ejected several thousand years ago from the hot star visible in its center. REUTERSThis nebula, imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope on August 10, 2008, is about 170,000 light-years away. Hubble completed its 100,000th orbit in its 18th year of exploration and discovery, and in doing so took a snapshot of a dazzling region of celestial birth and renewal. REUTERSThis nebula, imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope on August 10, 2008, is about 170,000 light-years away. Hubble completed its 100,000th orbit in its 18th year of exploration and discovery, and in doing so took a snapshot of a dazzling region of celestial birth and renewal. REUTERSHubble image of galaxy collisions across space and time.REUTERSThis image from the Hubble Space Telescope released by NASA on April 3, 2007 shows a view of the nearby barred spiral galaxy NGC 1672 unveiling details in the galaxy's star-forming clouds and dark bands of interstellar dust. The spiral galaxy is more than 60 million light-years away in the direction of the southern constellation Dorado. The image was taken by Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys in August 2005. REUTERSThis image of the Orion nebula, taken by NASA's Spitzer and Hubble Space Telescopes and released November 7, 2006, shows an infrared and visible-light composite that indicates that a "gang" of four monstrously massive stars at the center of the cloud may be the main culprits of mayhem in the familiar Orion constellation. The stars are collectively called the "Trapezium" and can be communally identified as the yellow smudge near the center of the image. Swirls of green in Hubble's ultraviolet and visible-light view reveal hydrogen and sulfur gas that have been heated and ionized by intense ultraviolet radiation from the Trapezium's stars.REUTERSFailed stars, baby stars and vast cosmic canyons of dust and gas were on display in this new Hubble Space Telescope image of the Orion Nebula released on January 11, 2006. The image, taken by the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) aboard NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, represents the sharpest view ever taken of this region, called the Orion Nebula. REUTERSResembling a diamond-encrusted bracelet, a ring of brilliant blue star clusters wraps around the yellowish nucleus of what was once a normal spiral galaxy in this new image released on April 22, 2004 from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope (HST). REUTERSThis image, obtained with the Advanced Camera for Surveys on February 8, 2004 and released March 4, is Hubble's latest view of an expanding halo of light around a distant star, named V838 Monocerotis (V838 Mon). The illumination of interstellar dust comes from the red supergiant star at the middle of the image, which gave off a flashbulb-like pulse of light two years ago. REUTERSImage shows multiwavelength composite of Messier 81, a nearby galaxy located in the constellation Ursa Major.
REUTERSThe photo, taken by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, captures a small region within M17, a hotbed of star formation M17, also known as the Omega or Swan Nebula, is located about 5,500 light-years (1690 parsecs) from Earth in the constellation Sagittarius. The turbulent gases in this photo of Gaseous Nebula in the Milky Way Galaxy shows roughly 1.9.arcminutes (3.1 light-years or 0.95 parsecs) across. The image is was released to commemorate the 13th anniversary of Hubble's launch on April 24, 1990. REUTERS
