Though we all have differences, there’s one commonality that has prevailed for all of humanity: we are all floating on a rock, flying through outer space at over a million miles an hour.
Thanks to the rapid advancement of technology in the past century, we can observe much more of the universe than we ever thought possible.
The scale and sheer size of the universe make it impossible to truly learn everything, but it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try.
Here's what's happening in space this week.
This week marks the 33rd anniversary of the Hubble Space telescope's launch into Earth's orbit.
The Hubble Telescope, named after astronomer Edwin Hubble, launched on April 24, 1990, after decades of development, according to NASA. Since then, it has revolutionized space exploration and given the world a multitude of awe-inspiring data and images.
Hubble has made a number of monumental discoveries that help us expand our understanding of the Universe. It's provided data that determined the rate of expansion of the Universe, furthered our hypotheses about black holes, and captured breathtaking images of celestial objects both within and beyond our solar system.
To celebrate the 33rd anniversary of one of humanity's most remarkable scientific achievements, here are some of Hubble's most impressive photos.
Supernova 1987A
Shared on August 29, 1990, this image is one of the first scientific results achieved by Hubble. After discovering imperfections on the telescope's primary mirror, this image came as a relief to astronomers. The image shows a ring around the remnants of Supernova 1987A in unprecedented detail.
Hubble Ultra Deep Field
The Hubble Ultra Deep Field from 2004 exhibits just how vast the expanding Universe it. The image shows almost 10,000 galaxies of various sizes and ages in just a pea-sized region of our sky. Over 800 exposures were needed to achieve this image over the course of 400 Hubble orbits around Earth.
The Crab Nebula
The Crab Nebula is one of the most well studies objects in astronomy, according to ESA. In 2005, the Hubble Telescope took 24 exposures to make the most detailed and high quality image of the Crab Nebula to date.
'mystic mountainS' of Carina Nebula
Atop the Carina Nebula sits a 'mystic mountain' of cosmic gas three light-years tall. This image, released in 2010 for Hubble's 20th anniversary, takes a breathtaking look at the chaos happening at the Carina Nebula's peak which is both surrounded by and filled with white-hot newborn stars.
The Pinwheel Galaxy
This 2006 image of Messier 101, more commonly known as the Pinwheel Galaxy, provided the largest and most refined image of a spiral galaxy ever taken, despite the galaxy being 23 million light years away from Earth.
Saturn's 'Spoke Season'
Released in February of 2023, this recent Hubble image displays one of our solar system's most magnificent planets, Saturn. This image is significant as it shows Saturn's 'spoke season,' in which mysterious smudges appears on its rings, according to NASA. The cause of the spokes have yet to be fully understood.
NGC-1333
Last on our list is one of Hubble's most recent images of NGC-1333, a star-forming region located just 960 light-years from Earth. The image offers a glimpse of the turbulent process of star-formation with a dark cloud. It was taken in celebration of Hubble's 33rd anniversary.
Tap through the slides below from NASA to learn more about the history of the Hubble Space Telescope. You can find more of Hubble's photos from the past 33 years here.
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