Science Highlights

Hubble has affected every area of astronomy. Its most notable scientific discoveries reflect the broad range of research and the breakthroughs it has achieved.

Quick Facts

Hubble has made over 1.6 million observations since its launch in 1990.

Image of Hubble seen floating above the Earth in orbit. Under Hubble, the sandy colored landmass is visible through wisps of clouds. On the upper half of the image, the darkness of space is seen.

There are more than 21,000 published scientific papers using Hubble data.

Hubble observations of Carina Nebula section

Hubble transmits about 150 gigabits of raw science data to Earth every week.

Image of Hubble seen floating above the Earth in orbit. Under Hubble, the blue colored landmass is visible through the clouds. On the upper half of the image, the darkness of space is seen.

Over 25,000 astronomers have written science papers based on Hubble data.

Hubble view of an expanding halo of light around star v838 monocerotis — This Hubble Space Telescope image of the star V838 Monocerotis reveals dramatic changes in the illumination of surrounding dusty cloud structures. The effect, called a light echo, unveiled never-before-seen dust patterns when the star suddenly brightened for several weeks in early 2002.
NASA, ESA, and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)

Hubble image left to right: Jupiter, Uranus, Saturn, Neptune — The Outer Planet Atmospheres Legacy (OPAL) project is an observing program of the Hubble Space Telescope. OPAL makes yearly observations of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune to understand their atmospheric dynamics and evolution over time. Using Hubble, OPAL astronomers regularly measure and monitor features on each of these giant gas planets.
NASA, ESA, A. Simon (NASA-GSFC), and M. H. Wong (UC Berkeley); Image Processing: J. DePasquale and A. Pagan (STScI)

Field is filled with galaxies in colors of white, yellow, blue-white, and red; all on a black background. — Approximately 10,000 galaxies fill a small area of sky called the Hubble Ultra Deep Field. Created through the collaboration of 20 astronomers and scientists, this is the deepest image of the universe ever made at optical and near-infrared wavelengths.
NASA, ESA, S. Beckwith and the HUDF Team (STScI), and B. Mobasher (STScI)

Hubble images of Eagle Nebula's Pillars of Creation — The Hubble Space Telescope is equipped to take images in various wavelengths of light in order to provide more insight into its targets. The famous Pillars of Creation in the Eagle Nebula (also known as M16: the 16th object in Charles Messier’s catalog) were imaged using both visible (left) and infrared (right) filters. Using infrared light, Hubble is able to probe past the dense gas and dust of the nebula to reveal stars that are hidden in visible wavelengths.
NASA, ESA/Hubble and the Hubble Heritage Team

Three views of Pluto. Three mottled circles in colors of yellow, grey, rusty-orange, and black. — Constructed from multiple Hubble photographs taken from 2002 to 2003, it took 20 computers operating continuously and simultaneously four years to accomplish this end product.
NASA, ESA, and M. Buie (Southwest Research Institute)

Hubble image of NGC 1300 — Astronomers classify galaxy NGC 1300 as a barred spiral because its arms do not swirl into the center but instead are connected to ends of a straight bar of stars that contains the nucleus.
NASA, ESA and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA); acknowledgment: P. Knezek (WIYN)

Why a Space Telescope — NGC 3147 is a spiral galaxy 130 million light-years away from Earth. Hubble’s clear view of the cosmos enables it to capture details like the clusters of young blue stars, pinkish nebulas and lanes of dust visible in the galaxy’s graceful, winding arms.
NASA, ESA, S. Bianchi (Università degli Studi Roma Tre University), A. Laor (Technion-Israel Institute of Technology), and M. Chiaberge (ESA, STScI, and JHU)

The image shows an irregularly-shaped bright orange object composed of dense gas and dust, which appears darker and more compact at the centre. This dense cloud, called CB 130-3, is outlined by thinner gas and dust in light shades of blue. The background shows a multitude of bright stars against a black background. — A small, dense cloud of gas and dust called CB 130-3 blots out the center of this Hubble image. CB 130-3 is an object known as a dense core, a compact agglomeration of gas and dust. Dense cores like CB 130-3 are the birthplaces of stars and are of particular interest to astronomers. During the collapse of these cores enough mass can accumulate in one place to reach the temperatures and densities required to ignite hydrogen fusion, marking the birth of a new star. While it may not be obvious from this image, a compact object teetering on the brink of becoming a star is embedded deep within CB 130-3.
ESA/Hubble, NASA & STScI, C. Britt, T. Huard, A. Pagan

clustered sprinkle of multi-colored stars — This ancient stellar jewelry box, a globular cluster called NGC 6397, glitters with the light from hundreds of thousands of stars.
NASA, ESA, and T. Brown and S. Casertano (STScI) ; Acknowledgement: NASA, ESA, and J. Anderson (STScI)

Since its launch in 1990, NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has offered us stunning images that capture the awe-inspiring beauty of the universe, but Hubble is far more than pretty pictures. Its suite of scientific instruments make it an orbiting observatory that gathers wavelengths of light from ultraviolet, through visible, and into the near-infrared part of the electromagnetic spectrum. Hubble’s sensitivity to such a broad range of wavelengths makes it one of the most valuable and productive observatories in the history of astronomy.

Developed as a partnership between the United States space program and the European Space Agency, Hubble orbits 320 miles (515 km) above Earth’s surface. Its location above the distorting effects of our atmosphere allows Hubble to observe astronomical objects and phenomena more consistently and with better detail than is attainable from most ground-based observatories. The telescope's sensitive instruments can view objects near and far – from small colliding asteroids in our solar system, to distant star-forming galaxies that date back to when the universe was only three percent of its current age. Hubble observations have made key discoveries that characterize the structure and evolution of the universe, galaxies, nebulae, stars, exoplanets, and our solar system neighbors.

From dark energy and black holes to starbirth and the expanding universe, these videos explore the science behind Hubble's observations.

Well into its third operational decade, Hubble continues to be extremely productive. It exceeds one million observations, from which astronomers have written more than 21,000 peer-reviewed scientific papers. More than 1.2 million publications reference those original papers – a number that increases by an average exceeding 150 per day. Every current astronomy textbook includes contributions from Hubble.

In its three-plus decades of exploration, Hubble has generated as many questions as it has answered – uncovering new mysteries while expanding our understanding of the universe in ways we never imagined.

The stories you find here represent a small sample of Hubble’s thought-provoking discoveries and images. Selecting this set from the thousands of awe-inspiring Hubble observations was difficult, but they serve to highlight some of Hubble’s greatest scientific achievements to date.