Launched into orbit in 1990, NASA's Hubble Telescope has revolutionised astronomy and inspired a generation with its magnificent views of the universe. To celebrate Hubble's 20th Birthday, we've teamed up with our friends at the Space Telescope Science Institute to share our 20 favourite Hubble images. Browse the images below, watch this tour video or in Google Earth and fly to these locations in space!
Hubble’s 20th anniversary image of a three-light-year-tall mountain of gas and dust shows gas jets, fired by infant stars within the pillar. Learn more
Globular cluster M80, home to hundreds of thousands of stars held together by gravity, is one of the densest clusters in the Milky Way. Learn more
Newly formed stars carve a cavity in the centre of a star-forming region of the Small Magellanic Cloud. Learn more
Pillars of gas in the Eagle Nebula are sculpted by stellar winds and radiation. Embryonic stars form inside the pillars. Learn more
Inside a cavern of roiling dust and gas, thousands of stars are forming. More than 3,000 stars of various sizes appear in this image of the Orion Nebula. Learn more
Gas heated to more than 36,000 degrees Fahrenheit tears across space at more than 600,000 miles an hour to form the butterfly-shaped nebula. Learn more
Eta Carinae briefly became one of the brightest stars in the southern sky 150 years ago due to the explosive outburst that produced its dusty polar lobes. Learn more
The Crab Nebula is the remains of a star that died in a supernova so brilliant that it was recorded by observers in the year 1054. A neutron star pulses at its centre. Learn more
This image of the spiral galaxy M51, also known as “The Whirlpool Galaxy”, reveals long lanes of stars and gas, laced with dust. Learn more
The Sombrero Galaxy, home to a super-massive black hole and a rich system of nearly 2,000 globular clusters, is seen nearly edge-on from Earth’s perspective. Learn more
A jet of hot gas streams from the centre of the giant elliptical galaxy M87, signalling the presence of a supermassive black hole 2.6 billion times the mass of the Sun. Learn more
Streamers of stars and gas emanate from two colliding galaxies known as “The Mice”, which will merge into one galaxy in about 500 million years. Learn more
Galaxies are poised in a cosmic dance in the galaxy group Stephan’s Quintet. Four of the galaxies tug at each other gravitationally. Learn more
The mass of galaxy cluster Abell 2218 distorts and magnifies the light of galaxies beyond it, allowing us to see distant galaxies in the universe.
This view of nearly 100,000 galaxies captures the faintest visible-light details of the universe ever seen. It reveals billions of light years of galactic history. Learn more
Hubble stares down a barrel of gas cast off by a dying star. The Ring Nebula, floating some 2,000 light years from Earth, has a white dwarf star at its centre. Learn more
Eleven concentric shells of gas surround the dying star of the Cat’s Eye Nebula, one of the most complex planetary nebulae ever discovered. Learn more
Light moves outwards from a stellar outburst, illuminating vast regions of usually invisible dust and gas. Learn more
A 50-light-year-wide view of the Carina Nebula shows a maelstrom of star birth and death. Learn more
Galaxy NGC 1300 exhibits a long, central bar shape that connects its spiral arms. Our own Milky Way is known to be a barred spiral galaxy. Learn more
Be a part of ongoing history. You can send a message to Hubble to celebrate its 20th anniversary, which will be incorporated into a time capsule. Learn more
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