Hubble Celebrates 35 Years In Orbit With A Breathtaking Space Photo Tour

The Hubble Space Telescope has been deployed since April 25, 1990. Yesterday marked 25 years since it began its mission to help us better understand the cosmos. To commemorate this noteworthy anniversary, NASA has released a gallery of fascinating images captured by the powerful telescope from its home at 320 miles (515 kilometers) above the Earth's surface.

NASA released images of Mars and "star-forming regions, and a neighboring galaxy." Although there are over 30 active telescopes in space, NASA touted the significance of the Hubble Space Telescope, describing it as the most "scientifically productive telescope in history," and a reflection of America's commitment to the advancement of science and technology not only in our world but across the visible universe.

NASA's description of the Hubble Space Telescope is apropos, considering the enormous amount of high quality data (400 Terabytes) transmitted by the telescope. NASA further said that Hubble's data record is only second to the James Webb Space Telescope’s (JWST), which has already transmitted over 50 Terabytes since its launch in 2021. Why is Hubble second? NASA simply considered Hubble's achievement relative JWST data transmission rate, which is 28 megabits per second (Mbps) compared to Hubble's 1 Mbps.


The Director of the Astrophysics Division at NASA, Shawn Domagal-Goldman, explained that the data transmitted by Hubble over the last 35 years has inspired people from all over the world. He also added that the telescope has helped humans unravel a number of mysteries regarding our solar system and galaxy.

If you'd like to peruse the high resolution Hubble images NASA has released, you can find them all here.