Get a photo of how the universe looked on your birthday (or any special day)
There are very few things in life that are as awe-inspiring as looking up at the night sky, And no one gets to look at it quite like astronomers and astrophysicists do. But now the lovely people at NASA are allowing us to see the night sky through their eyes - and telescopes.
(Credit: NASA; ESA; G. Illingworth, D. Magee, and P. Oesch, University of California, Santa Cruz; R. Bouwens, Leiden University; and the HUDF09 Team)
In April of 1990 NASA launched the Hubble Space Telescope into space, and it has been sending back photos ever since. It was named after the astronomer Edwin Hubble, (1889–1953), the scientist whose studies proved to the world that our home galaxy, the Milky Way, is not the only galaxy in the universe (which is what people believed at the time). In fact scientists now estimate that there could be anywhere from 100 billion to 200 billion galaxies!
Take another look at the picture above. It is called eXtreme Deep Field and it took 10 years to put it all together (and you thought taking a good selfie with your bestie could take awhile!) Those beautiful little lights that look like stars? Yeah, those are actually galaxies. Not stars: GALAXIES! Within this one image we can see (though some brighter and bigger than others) around 5,500 galaxies in one tiny portion of space.
NASA, ESA, G. Bacon (STScI) and F. Summers (STScI)
And how much space (pun intended) do those galaxies take up? Check out this video which shows the size of the eXtreme Deep Field in comparison to something we are more familiar with - the moon.
One of the things that makes the Hubble Space Telescope so special is that unlike us, and almost all other telescopes, it isn’t stuck here on earth; it is actually in orbit around it. What better place to look out into the depths of space than from space itself?
The people at NASA said it best:
“Above the distortion of the atmosphere, far far above rain clouds and light pollution, Hubble has an unobstructed view of the universe.”
And what a view! A view we now get to share. To celebrate the Hubble Space Telescope’s 30 years in orbit NASA have ever so kindly launched a section of their website where you can go and search for images by date.
CLICK HERE to find a beautiful photograph of the universe taken on any date that feels particularly special to you.
We’ve included a picture taken on May 12th, our websites birthday :)
Star-Forming Region N11B
This panoramic view captures an iridescent tapestry of star birth, filled with glowing gas, dark dust clouds, and young, hot stars. The star-forming region, cataloged as N11B, lies in a nearby galaxy, the Large Magellanic Cloud.
NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)
WHAT YOU KNOW NOW!
Edwin Hubble proved there is more than one galaxy in the universe
We don’t know for sure how many galaxies there are, but scientists estimate the total number is between 100 and 200 billion
The Hubble Space Telescope has orbited Earth, taking photos, for 30 years
The Hubble Space Telescope gets a great view of the universe because it’s view isn’t obstructed by gases and particles in Earth’s atmosphere
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