KEY POINTS

  • NASA now allows you to find out what the Hubble telescope saw in space on your birthday
  • On this day in 2008, Hubble took an infrared image of the center of our Milky Way galaxy
  • To celebrate Hubble's 30 years of exploration, NASA released an album of 30 beautiful images taken by the telescope 

Have you ever wondered what the Hubble telescope saw in space on your birthday?

The Hubble Space Telescope is one of the most valuable tools ever made in observing the universe and all of its celestial phenomena. Throughout the 30 years it has been in space, the telescope has allowed humans to view the universe like never before, and it even made discoveries that could not have been possible with the use of the naked eye alone.

In celebration of the Hubble's 30 years of exploration, NASA now allows you to find out what the telescope saw on your birthday. By simply entering the month and date when you were born, the site will instantly provide you with a crisp image of what the Hubble saw or discovered on your special day.

The site also provides detailed information on the image Hubble took that day -- allowing you to know more about the great celestial processes that took place on your birthday.

On Christmas of 2009, for example, Hubble was able to capture an image of the dwarf galaxy NGC 4214. The star-filled image featured stellar clusters and bright patterns scattered all around the galaxy.

And on July 4, 2002, the space telescope was able to snap a photo of the Carina Nebula, located about 8,000 light-years from Earth and which could be seen from Earth with the naked eye due to its extensive diameter.

On this day in 2008, the Hubble Space Telescope took an infrared image of the center of our Milky Way galaxy. Although looking somewhat like an inferno, the striking photo features massive stars and other structures swirling around the galactic core made up of hot ionized gas.

Last year, the space agency released 30 images to celebrate Hubble's 30 years in orbit. The album featured some of the most beautiful images ever taken by the telescope, including nebulae, cosmic reefs and galaxies -- all available for viewing and download.

Well-known personalities and celebrities also took part in the celebration by sending video greetings and birthday wishes to Hubble.

The Hubble Space Telescope was launched on April 24, 1990, aboard the space shuttle Discovery. According to NASA Hubblesite, it is named after Edwin Powell Hubble -- an astronomer who made some of the most important discoveries by NASA.

Hubble
This illustration shows the Hubble Space Telescope superimposed on an image of the Moon, seen during a lunar eclipse. Taking advantage of a total lunar eclipse in January 2019, astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have detected ozone in Earth's atmosphere. This method serves as a proxy for how they will observe Earth-like planets transiting in front of other stars in search of life. Our planet's perfect alignment with the Sun and Moon during a total lunar eclipse mimics the geometry of a transiting terrestrial planet with its star. In a new study, Hubble did not look at Earth directly. Instead, astronomers used the Moon as a mirror that reflects the sunlight transmitted through Earth's atmosphere, which was then captured by Hubble. This is the first time a total lunar eclipse was captured at ultraviolet wavelengths and from a space telescope. M. Kornmesser (ESA/Hubble), NASA, and ESA
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