Skip to main content

Hubble turns 32, continues to reveal the wonders of space

Tomorrow, Sunday, April 24, marks the 32nd birthday of the Hubble Space Telescope. Since its launch in 1990, the telescope has helped uncover secrets of the universe as well as produced some absolutely stunning images of space.

Hubble’s 32nd Year in Orbit

NASA has released a video about Hubble’s birthday, including an overview of some of the things the telescope has imaged and discovered in the last few months and years. That includes recently measuring the largest comet ever seen and observing the weather on Jupiter and Saturn, including how the storm which makes up Jupiter’s Great Red Spot is getting faster and Saturn’s bands of atmosphere are changing colors. In addition, study of two of Jupiter’s moons — Ganymede and Europa — showed that they have water vapor in their atmospheres.

And that’s just within the solar system. In the Milky Way, Hubble has imaged creepy star CW Leonis, taken an ultraviolet image of planet PDS 70b, and seen an expanding bubble of gas near the heart of our galaxy. Further out into the cosmos, Hubble has spotted a black hole that seems to be helping stars to form instead of destroying them, solved the mystery of a mirrored double galaxy, and detected the farthest star ever seen, whose light had taken nearly 13 billion years to reach us.

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope is celebrating its 32nd birthday with a stunning look at an unusual close-knit collection of five galaxies, called the Hickson Compact Group 40. This snapshot reflects a special moment in their lifetimes as they fall together before they merge.
The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope is celebrating its 32nd birthday with a stunning look at an unusual close-knit collection of five galaxies, called the Hickson Compact Group 40. This snapshot reflects a special moment in their lifetimes as they fall together before they merge. NASA, ESA, and STScI

In addition, Hubble scientists shared one more beautiful Hubble image for the telescope’s birthday, showing a group of five galaxies that are unusually packed together. The Hickson Compact Group 40 consists of three spiral galaxies, one elliptical galaxy, and one lenticular galaxy, all of which are so close together they will eventually collide together and merge into one large galaxy.

While other similarly dense galaxy groups have been observed near the centers of huge galaxy clusters, this group is unusual for being located in a relatively empty area of space, leading astronomers to wonder why the group is so squished together. One theory is that large amounts of dark matter are clouded around the galaxies, slowing their movements and holding the group together.

Editors' Recommendations

Georgina Torbet
Georgina is the Digital Trends space writer, covering human space exploration, planetary science, and cosmology. She…
Hear the otherworldly sounds of interacting galaxies with this Hubble sonification
This new NASA Hubble Space Telescope image showcases a resplendent pair of galaxies known as Arp 140.

When two different galaxies get close enough together that they begin interacting, they are sometimes given a shared name. That's the case with a newly released image from the Hubble Space Telescope that shows two galaxies, NGC 274 and NGC 275, which are together known as Arp 140. not only is there a new image of the pair, but there's also a sonification available so you can hear the image as well as see it.

This new NASA Hubble Space Telescope image showcases a resplendent pair of galaxies known as Arp 140. NASA/ESA/R. Foley (University of California - Santa Cruz)/Processing: Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America)

Read more
James Webb Space Telescope celebrated on new stamps
Two new stamps celebrating the James Webb Space Telescope, issued by the USPS in January 2024.

Two new stamps celebrating the James Webb Space Telescope, issued by the USPS in January 2024. USPS

Beautiful images captured by the James Webb Space Telescope have landed on a new set of stamps issued this week by the U.S. Postal Service (USPS).

Read more
Hubble captures an exceptionally luminous supernova site
This NASA Hubble Space Telescope image is of the small galaxy known as UGC 5189A.

This week's image from the Hubble Space Telescope shows the aftermath of an epic explosion in space caused by the death of a massive star.

Some of the most dramatic events in the cosmos are supernovas, when a massive star runs out of fuel to fuse -- first running out of hydrogen, then helium, then burning through heavier elements -- and eventually can no longer sustain the outward pressure from heat caused by this fusion. When that happens, the star collapses suddenly into a dense core, and its outer layers are thrown off in a tremendous explosion called a Type II supernova.

Read more