Hubble Space Telescope turns 30: Astronomer Fred Watson shares his top 10 photos

The Hubble Space Telescope launched on the 24th of April 1990 has captured several extraordinary images throughout its journey in space.

Surviving at 568 km above the planet Earth, the telescope is fitted with cameras all around to capture images at different wavelengths.

The above image is of Jupiter, captured in 2016 by professor Fred Watson. It was taken while creating an image series for Juno spacecraft’s arrival.

Some of the other breathtaking images shared by Watson include:

1.Pillars of Creation

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Published in 2014, the towering pillars were found in the Eagle Nebula within the Orion constellation, 6,500 light-years away. 

2.Glittering stars in Lyra

Field of stars and a couple of galaxies in the constellation of Lyra

The sparkling starscape was captured 13,300 light-years away in the northern hemisphere of the Lyra constellation.

3.Mysterious Monocerotis

Hubble image of V838 MonocerotisThe red center of the image is a star, 20,000 light-years away in the constellation of Monoceros which exploded in 2002. It later returned to its normal brightness.

4.M81: the perfect spiral galaxy

Image of spiral galaxy M81M81 is located in the constellation of Ursa Major, 11.6 million light-years away.

5.Clusters of galaxies

Distant galaxy cluster Abell 370

The image taken in 2017, shows Abell 370, a cluster of galaxies 4 billion light-years away in the constellation of Cetus. 

6.Tarantula and a butterflyPart of the Tarantula Nebula in the Large Magellanic Cloud

This image, released in 2020, captures the formation of a butterfly shape by dust particles. It is located 165,000 light-years away in the dwarf galaxy.

7. An Einstein cross

Hubble image showing a perfect cross formationThe phenomena captured in this image is known as the Einstein Cross as it reveals the Einstien General Theory of Relativity at work. The picture was released in 2017. 

8.Remnants of an exploding star

Supernova 1987a (widefield)Released in 2017, the image captures Tarantula Nebula, which exploded in 1987 to form the first naked-eye Supernova.

9.Extreme universe

Hubble extreme deep field looking back at some of the earliest galaxiesThis picture, released in 2012, shows 5500 different galaxies captured over 23 days.

Which one do you like best?

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