'Celestial fireworks' to celebrate Hubble's 25th birthday

(Courtesy of NASA)


18 photos
Save Story
Leer en español

Estimated read time: 1-2 minutes

This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.

GREENBELT, Md. — For 25 years, the Hubble Space Telescope has been sending captivating images of the universe back to Earth.

The telescope was launched April 24, 1990 in the space shuttle Discovery and released into space the next day, according to NASA and the European Space Agency. The telescope is operated jointly by the two agencies.

“Hubble has completely transformed our view of the universe, revealing the true beauty and richness of the cosmos,” astronaut John Grunsfeld said in a statement.

The official 25th anniversary image, named “Celestial Fireworks,” showcases a giant cluster of stars known as Westerland 2. There are about 3,000 stars in the cluster, which is 20,000 light-years away from Earth, according to NASA.

As part of the anniversary celebration, the two space agencies also created a video series featuring interviews with “the people who built, maintain and use data from the hubble.” Four videos have been released so far, and more are on the way.

To celebrate Hubble’s anniversary, we compiled a gallery of some of the stunning images the telescope has captured within the past year. Let us know what your favorites are in the comment section.

Photos

Related links

Most recent Features stories

Natalie Crofts

    STAY IN THE KNOW

    Get informative articles and interesting stories delivered to your inbox weekly. Subscribe to the KSL.com Trending 5.
    By subscribing, you acknowledge and agree to KSL.com's Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

    KSL Weather Forecast