Fifteen years ago, on 25 April 1990, NASA placed the Hubble Space Telescope in orbit. Our sense of the cosmos changed forever, as an optical telescope was able to scan the universe from beyond Earth’s hazy atmosphere for the first time. Now, 700,000 stunning images later, the HST’s Advanced Camera for Surveys is producing more detailed images than ever. To celebrate the anniversary, NASA has released images of the Eagle nebula and the Whirlpool galaxy. The pictures are of such high quality that they can be blown up to billboard size and still retain stunning sharpness. Mural-sized enlargements of the images went on display at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum in Washington DC.
Space
Hubble celebrates its birthday with more glorious images
It was 15 years ago that Hubble launched to snap the stars – 700,000 stunning images later and it is producing more detailed images than ever
