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About the Telescope
On April 24, 1990, the space shuttle Discovery lifted off from Earth with the Hubble Space Telescope nestled securely in its payload bay. The following day, Hubble was released into space, ready to peer into the vast unknown. Since then, Hubble has reinvigorated and reshaped our perception of the cosmos and uncovered a universe of unexpected wonders. Hubble has revealed properties of space and time that for most of human history were only probed in the imaginations of scientists and philosophers. Today, Hubble continues to provide views of cosmic wonders never before seen and is at the forefront of many new discoveries.
Space shuttle Discovery lifted off from Kennedy Space Center, Florida to launch and deploy the Hubble Space Telescope into low Earth orbit.
Hubble was designed to be serviced by astronauts in order to maintain and repair the observatory and upgrade the science instruments to the most advanced technology available.
The Hubble Ultra Deep Field image (2014) shows a small section of space in the southern-hemisphere constellation Fornax. The image, covering ultraviolet, visible, and near-infrared light, contains approximately 10,000 galaxies which extend back in time to within a few hundred million years of the big bang.
This Hubble image (left) and illustration (right) show a gap in a protoplanetary disk of dust and gas whirling around the nearby red dwarf star TW Hydrae. The gap's presence is best explained as due to the effects of a growing, unseen planet that is gravitationally sweeping up material and carving out a lane in the disk.
This illustration depicts the Jupiter-sized exoplanet HD 189733b. Hubble chemically probed the planet's atmosphere where it detected methane; an organic molecule which, under the right circumstances, can play a key role in chemical reactions considered necessary to form life as we know it.
A black hole-powered jet of electrons and sub-atomic particles streams from the center of galaxy M87, first captured by Hubble on June 1, 1991.
On the outskirts of NGC 4526 is a white dwarf supernova. Astronomers use these massive explosions to measure distances to far-off galaxies, and have found that the expansion of the universe is accelerating. The cause of this mysterious acceleration has been dubbed "dark energy."
A giant, sparkling cluster of about 3,000 stars called Westerlund 2 resides in a raucous stellar breeding ground known as Gum 29, located 20,000 light-years away from Earth in the constellation Carina.
International Partners
The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between NASA and the European Space Agency. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD., manages the telescope. The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, MD., conducts Hubble science operations. STScI is operated for NASA by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., in Washington, DC.
As lead agency, NASA has overall responsibility for the Hubble Space Telescope. ESA’s contributions to HST include among other things, the Faint Object Camera, the first two solar wings that powered the spacecraft and a team of space scientists and engineers at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, MD. Europe's contribution to HST entitles European astronomers to 15% of the telescope's observing time.
About the Space Telescope Science Institute
The mission of the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) is to help humanity explore the universe with advanced space telescopes and ever-growing data archives. STScI is a multi-mission science operations center for NASA’s flagship observatories and a world-class astronomical research center.
Established in 1981, the institute has developed and executed the science and mission operations for the Hubble Space Telescope since its launch in 1990 and will conduct the science and mission operations for the James Webb Space Telescope. The institute will also be the science operations center for the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, formerly known as the Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope, launching in the mid-2020s.
The institute also supports other astronomy programs and its science staff conducts world-class scientific research. STScI is the home of the Barbara A. Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes (MAST), where the data of over 20 astronomical missions is curated and disseminated for use by the global astronomy community. The institute brings astrophysics to the public through internationally recognized news, education, and public outreach programs.
The institute is located on the campus of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, and is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA) for NASA.
About Communications and Outreach
Public outreach is at the heart of STScI’s mission. The communications and outreach team finds innovative ways to share complex scientific discoveries with the public. An interdisciplinary group of communications professionals and scientists works together to prepare and disseminate news items, as well as posters, exhibits, and other informal education products in print and electronic formats.
HubbleSite.org is produced by the Space Telescope Science Institute's Office of Public Outreach (OPO).