Hubble at 25: the wonder of the universe laid bare

The Hubble telescope, launched 25 years ago next month, is unrivalled in its breathtaking and compelling visions of the cosmos
" 25 years of the Hubble telescope - in pictures

It has captured images of stars coalescing out of glowing clouds of dust, peered back more than 10bn years to study the early universe, pinpointed the remnants of supernovae explosions and helped physicists uncover some of the cosmos's deepest secrets. The Hubble space telescope, which celebrates its 25th birthday next month, has been, if nothing else, an astronomical workhorse of unprecedented effectiveness. Yet its greatest achievement has less to do with hard science and much more to do with our appreciation of our own place in the universe.

Thanks to the space telescope, which was launched by Nasa on the shuttle Discovery, we can see the unbelievable richness, colour and grandeur of the universe: newborn stars glittering through thick columns of interstellar dust, or luminous galaxies whose light has taken billions of years to reach us.

Continue reading...