Explore HubbleScienceHubble Space TelescopeEye on Infinity: NASA…Hubble HomeOverviewAbout HubbleThe History of HubbleHubble TimelineWhy Have a Telescope in Space?Hubble by the NumbersAt the MuseumFAQsImpact & BenefitsHubble’s Impact & BenefitsScience ImpactsCultural ImpactTechnology BenefitsImpact on Human SpaceflightAstro Community ImpactsScienceHubble ScienceScience ThemesScience HighlightsScience Behind DiscoveriesHubble’s Partners in ScienceUniverse UncoveredExplore the Night SkyObservatoryHubble ObservatoryHubble DesignMission OperationsMissions to HubbleHubble vs WebbTeamHubble TeamCareer AspirationsHubble AstronautsNewsHubble NewsSocial MediaMedia ResourcesMultimediaMultimediaImagesVideosSonificationsPodcastse-BooksOnline ActivitiesLithographsFact SheetsPosters Hubble on the NASA AppGlossary More35th AnniversaryOnline Activities  5 Min Read Eye on Infinity: NASA Celebrates Hubble’s 35th Year in Orbit Composite shows portions of four Hubble images from left to right. First, the left half of Mars in shades of orange, blues, and browns. Second, a tiny portion of the Rosette Nebula shows very dark gray material against a translucent blue background. Third, a portion of planetary nebula NGC 2899 looks like the number three in shades of red and orange. Fourth, the center of barred spiral galaxy NGC 5335 has a milky yellow center that forms a bar surrounded by the beginnings of blue star-filled spiral arms. A selection of photogenic space targets to celebrate the 35th anniversary of NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. Left to Right: Mars, a small portion of the Rosette Nebula, part of planetary nebula NGC 2899, barred spiral galaxy NGC 5335. Credits: NASA, ESA, STScI; Image Processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI), Alyssa Pagan (STScI) In celebration of the Hubble Space Telescope’s 35 years in Earth orbit, NASA is releasing an assortment of compelling images recently taken by Hubble, stretching from the planet Mars to star-forming regions, and a neighboring galaxy.

After more than three decades of perusing the universe, Hubble remains a household name — the most well-recognized and scientifically productive telescope in history. The Hubble mission is a glowing success story of America’s technological prowess, unyielding scientific curiosity, and a reiteration of our nation’s pioneering spirit. 

“Hubble opened a new window to the universe when it launched 35 years ago. Its stunning imagery inspired people across the globe, and the data behind those images revealed surprises about everything from early galaxies to planets in our own solar system,” said Shawn Domagal-Goldman, acting director of the Astrophysics Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “The fact that it is still operating today is a testament to the value of our flagship observatories, and provides critical lessons for the Habitable Worlds Observatory, which we plan to be serviceable in the spirit of Hubble.”

Perched above Earth’s blurry atmosphere, Hubble’s crystal-clear views have been nothing less than transformative for the public’s perception of the cosmos. Through its evocative imagery, Hubble has made astronomy very relevant, engaging, and accessible for people of all ages. Hubble snapshots can portray the universe as awesome, mysterious, and beautiful — and at the same time chaotic, overwhelming, and foreboding.

Composite shows four Hubble images in quarters. At top left is a crisp view of Mars in shades of orange, blues, and browns. At top right is planetary nebula NGC 2899, which is shaped like a single macaroni noodle, with its central torus appearing semi-transparent and blue and green, and its top and bottom edges in orange. At bottom left is a tiny portion of the Rosette Nebula. Very dark gray material shaped like a triangle takes up the center. At bottom right is barred spiral galaxy NGC 5335 with a milky yellow center that forms a bar surrounded by multiple blue star-filled spiral arms that wrap up counterclockwise.A selection of photogenic space targets to celebrate the 35th anniversary of NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. Upper left: Mars. Upper right: planetary nebula NGC 2899. Lower left: a small portion of the Rosette Nebula. Lower right: barred spiral galaxy NGC 5335.Image: NASA, ESA, STScI; Image Processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI), Alyssa Pagan (STScI) The 24,000-pound observatory was tucked away inside the space shuttle Discovery’s cargo bay and lofted into low Earth orbit on April 24, 1990. As the shuttle Discovery thundered skyward, the NASA commentator described Hubble as a “new window on the universe.” The telescope turned out to be exactly as promised, and more.

More scientific papers than ever are based on Hubble data, thanks to the dedication, perseverance, and skills of engineers, scientists, and mission operators. Astronauts chased and rendezvoused with Hubble on five servicing missions in which they upgraded Hubble’s cameras, computers, and other support systems. The servicing missions took place from 1993 to 2009. 

The telescope’s mission got off to a shaky start in 1990 when an unexpected flaw was found in the observatory’s nearly eight-foot diameter primary mirror. Astronauts gallantly came to the rescue on the first shuttle servicing mission in December 1993 to improve Hubble’s sharpness with corrective optics. 

To date, Hubble has made nearly 1.7 million observations, looking at approximately 55,000 astronomical targets. Hubble discoveries have resulted in over 22,000 papers and over 1.3 million citations as of February 2025. All the data collected by Hubble is archived and currently adds up to over 400 terabytes, representing the biggest dataset for a NASA astrophysics mission besides the James Webb Space Telescope. 

Hubble’s long operational life has allowed astronomers to return to the same cosmic scenes multiple times to observe changes that happened during more than three decades: seasonal variability on the planets in our solar system, black hole jets travelling at nearly the speed of light, stellar convulsions, asteroid collisions, expanding supernova bubbles, and much more.

Hubble’s Senior Project Scientist, Dr. Jennifer Wiseman, takes you on a tour of all four Hubble 35th anniversary images.
Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center; Lead Producer: Paul Morris; Narrator: Dr. Jennifer Wiseman Before 1990, powerful optical telescopes on Earth could see only halfway across the cosmos. Estimates for the age of the universe disagreed by a big margin. Supermassive black holes were only suspected to be the powerhouses behind a rare zoo of energetic phenomena. Not a single planet had been seen around another star.

Among its long list of breakthroughs: Hubble’s deep field images unveiled myriad galaxies dating back to the early universe. The telescope also allowed scientists to precisely measure the universe’s expansion, find that supermassive black holes are common among galaxies, and make the first measurement of the atmospheres of exoplanets. Hubble also contributed to the discovery of dark energy, the mysterious phenomenon accelerating the expansion of universe, leading to the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics. 

The relentless pace of Hubble’s trailblazing discoveries kick-started a new generation of space telescopes for the 21st century. Hubble provided the first observational evidence that there were myriad distant galaxies for Webb to pursue in infrared wavelengths that reach even farther beyond Hubble’s gaze. Now, Hubble and Webb are often being used in complement to study everything from exoplanets to galaxy evolution. 

Hubble’s planned successor, the Habitable Worlds Observatory, will have a significantly larger mirror than Hubble’s to study the universe in visible and ultraviolet light. It will be significantly sharper than Hubble and up to 100 times more sensitive to starlight. The Habitable Worlds Observatory will advance science across all of astrophysics, as Hubble has done for over three decades. A major goal of the future mission is to identify terrestrial planets around neighboring stars that might be habitable.

The Hubble Space Telescope continues to make ground-breaking discoveries that shape our fundamental understanding of the universe. Hubble is a project of international cooperation between NASA and ESA (European Space Agency). NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, manages the telescope and mission operations. Lockheed Martin Space, based in Denver, also supports mission operations at Goddard. The Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, conducts Hubble science operations for NASA.

Lee esta historia en español aquí Facebook logo @NASAHubble @NASAHubble Instagram logo @NASAHubble Related Images & Videos Composite shows four Hubble images in quarters. At top left is a crisp view of Mars in shades of orange, blues, and browns. At top right is planetary nebula NGC 2899, which is shaped like a single macaroni noodle, with its central torus appearing semi-transparent and blue and green, and its top and bottom edges in orange. At bottom left is a tiny portion of the Rosette Nebula. Very dark gray material shaped like a triangle takes up the center. At bottom right is barred spiral galaxy NGC 5335 with a milky yellow center that forms a bar surrounded by multiple blue star-filled spiral arms that wrap up counterclockwise. Mosaic of Hubble 35th Anniversary Targets A selection of photogenic space targets to celebrate the 35th anniversary of NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. Upper left: Mars. Upper right: planetary nebula NGC 2899. Lower left: a small portion of the Rosette Nebula. Lower right: barred spiral galaxy NGC 5335.

Two views of planet Mars on a black background of space observed by the Hubble Space Telescope. Mars Near Opposition 2024 This is a combination of Hubble Space Telescope images of Mars taken from December 28th to 30th, 2024. Mars was approximately 61 million miles from Earth. Thin water-ice clouds that are apparent in ultraviolet light give the Red Planet a frosty appearance.

NGC 2899 set against the black background of space. The planetary nebula is shaped like a single macaroni noodle, with its edges pointed up, but its edge-on central torus is semi-transparent in the middle. Planetary Nebula NGC 2899 This Hubble Space Telescope image captures the beauty of the moth-like planetary nebula NGC 2899. This object has a diagonal, bipolar, cylindrical outflow of gas propelled by radiation and stellar winds. The colors are from glowing hydrogen and oxygen.

A tiny portion of the Rosette Nebula. Very dark gray material shaped like a triangle or shark fin extends from just below top left all the way down to the lower right corner and back up toward the top right. Dark Clouds in Rosette Nebula This is a Hubble Space Telescope photo of a small portion of the Rosette Nebula, a huge star-forming region spanning 100 light-years across and located 5,200 light-years away. Dark clouds of hydrogen gas laced with dust are silhouetted across the image.

A square, ground-based observation of the entire Rosette Nebula. A tiny box at center-left connects to a zoomed-in image of this region at bottom left from the Hubble Space Telescope. Rosette Nebula Context Image The Rosette Nebula is a vast star-forming region, 100 light-years across, that lies at one end of a giant molecular cloud. The background image is from the Digitized Sky Survey, while the inset is a small portion of the nebula as photographed by the Hubble Space Telescope.

Barred spiral galaxy NGC 5335 observed by the Hubble Space Telescope takes up the majority of the view. At its center is a milky yellow, flattened oval that extends bottom left to top. Within the oval is a bright central region that looks circular, with the very center the brightest. In the bright central region is what looks like a bar, extending from top left to bottom right. Around this is a thick swath of blue stars speckled with white regions. Multiple arms wrap up and around in a counterclockwise direction, becoming fainter the farther out they are. Both the white core and the spiral arms are intertwined with dark streaks of dust. The background of space is black. Thousands of distant galaxies in an array of colors are speckled throughout. NGC 5335 NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope captured in exquisite detail a face-on view of a remarkable-looking galaxy. NGC 5335 is categorized as a flocculent spiral galaxy with patchy streamers of star formation across its disk.

Two views of Mars. Top left text: Mars & Phobos, Hubble Space Telescope; WFC3/UVIS filters in colors: F275W, purple; F410M, blue; F502N, green; F673N, red. Top image: December 28, 2024 20:00 UT. Most of planet is shades of orange. Brightest orange area on the left half. At top and bottom, white polar caps. Limb is blue. Text top center: northern polar cap, clouds. On planet, top to bottom, left to right: Arcadia Planitia, Tempe Terra, Acidalia Planitia; Olympus Monds; Tharsis Montes, Chryse Planitia; Valles Marineris, Terra Meridiana; Solus Planum; Argyre Planitia, Noachis Terra. To the right, dot: Phobos. Lower image: December 29, 2024 13:18 UT. Compass arrows at right, north pointing up, = east left. Planet has similar features; brightest orange area is two centered two blobs. Text above Mars: northern polar cap, clouds. On-planet: Utopia Planitia; Arabia Terra, Syrtis Major; Terra Meridiani, Schiaparelli Crater, clouds; Noachis Terra, Huygens Crater, Syrtis Minor; Hellas Planitia. At left, dot: Phobos. Mars Near Opposition Compass Image These two images of Mars and its moon Phobos were captured by the Hubble Space Telescope’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) on consecutive days in December 2024. Compass arrows and a color key are provided for reference.

Image titled u201cNGC 2899, HST WFC3/UVISu201d at top left with compass arrows and color key at the bottom. Below the name, filters are listed: F438W and F205N in blue, F555W and F656N in green, and F814W and F658N in red. These colors indicate the visible-light color is assigned to each filter. At center is the planetary nebula NGC 2899, which is shaped like a single macaroni noodle, with its edges pointed up. Its edge-on central torus is semi-transparent and blue and green in the middle. The top and bottom edges are thick and orange. The black background is speckled with pinpoints of light. The length of the scale bar at bottom left is about one fifth of the total width. It is labeled 0.5 light-years and 30 arcsec. At the bottom right are compass arrows indicating the orientation of the image on the sky. The east arrow points toward 8 ou2019clock. The north arrow points just past 12 ou2019clock. Planetary Nebula NGC 2899 Compass Image This image of planetary nebula NGC 2899 was captured by the Hubble Space Telescope’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3). The image shows a scale bar, compass arrows, and color key for reference.

Image titled u201cDark Clouds in the Rosette Nebula, HST WFC3/UVISu201d at top left with compass arrows and color key at the bottom. Below the name, filters are listed: F438W and F502N in blue, F555W and F656N in green, and F814W and F658N in red. These colors indicate the visible-light color is assigned to each filter. At center is a tiny portion of the Rosette Nebula. Very dark gray material shaped like a triangular shark fin takes up the center. It looks like thick smoke that has billowed out irregularly, thicker along the line from top left to bottom right, and looser on the piece that goes toward the top right. There are a few bright red and purple stars scattered along the right half. The length of the scale bar at bottom left is about one fifth of the total width. It is labeled 0.75 light-years and 30 arcsec. At the bottom right are compass arrows indicating the orientation of the image on the sky. The east arrow points toward 4 ou2019clock. The north arrow points just past 7 ou2019clock. Dark Clouds in Rosette Nebula Compass Image This image of dark clouds in the Rosette Nebula was captured by the Hubble Space Telescope’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3). The image shows a scale bar, compass arrows, and color key for reference.

Image titled u201cNGC 5335, HST WFC3/UVISu201d at top left with compass arrows and color key at the bottom. Below the name, filters are listed: F475W in blue, F625W in green, and F814W in red. These colors indicate the visible-light color is assigned to each filter. Barred spiral galaxy NGC 5335 takes up the majority of the view. At its center is a milky yellow, flattened oval surrounded by what looks like a bar extending from top left to bottom right. Around this is a thick swath of blue stars speckled with white regions. Multiple arms wrap up and around in a counterclockwise direction. Distant galaxies in an array of colors are speckled throughout the black background. The length of the scale bar at bottom left is about a quarter of the total width. It is labeled 48,000 light-years and 45 arcseconds. At the bottom right are compass arrows indicating the orientation of the image on the sky. The east arrow points toward 10 ou2019clock. The north arrow points toward 2 ou2019clock. NGC 5335 Compass Image This image of barred spiral galaxy NGC 5335 was captured by the Hubble Space Telescope’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3). The image shows a scale bar, compass arrows, and color key for reference.

A view of planet Mars on a black background of space observed by the Hubble Space Telescope. Mars Rotation This animation was assembled from a combination of Hubble Space Telescope images of Mars taken from December 28th to 30th, 2024. At the midpoint of the Hubble observations, Mars was approximately 61 million miles from Earth. The photos were then mapped onto a sphere, which is the…

NGC 2899 set against the black background of space. The planetary nebula is shaped like a single macaroni noodle, with its edges pointed up, but its edge-on central torus is semi-transparent in the middle. Planetary Nebula NGC 2899 This video zooms across 6,500 light-years through a star-studding field to visit the planetary nebula NGC 2899, as photographed by the Hubble Space Telescope. The nebula has a diagonal bipolar structure formed by a cylindrical-shaped outflow of hot gasses and radiation from the c…

A tiny portion of the Rosette Nebula. At left are broad vertical ribbons in yellow. At right, the background is blueish. Patches of dark material are superimposed. Two prominent yellow stars show four diffraction spikes. Rosette Nebula This video offers a close-up look at a small portion of the magnificent Rosette Nebula, as photographed by the Hubble Space Telescope. Though Hubble cannot take three-dimensional pictures, this video is a visualization treatment of the photo to give a sense of depth with foregrou…

Share Details Last Updated Apr 23, 2025 EditorAndrea GianopoulosLocationNASA Goddard Space Flight Center Contact MediaClaire Andreoli
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, Maryland
claire.andreoli@nasa.gov

Ray Villard
Space Telescope Science Institute
Baltimore, Maryland

Related TermsHubble Space TelescopeAstrophysicsAstrophysics DivisionGalaxiesGoddard Space Flight CenterMarsNebulaePlanetary NebulaePlanetary SciencePlanetsSpiral GalaxiesStarsThe Solar SystemThe Universe Additional Links Hubble’s 35th Anniversary page

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