Hubble's first image, taken in 1990.
Let us begin with the first image taken by the Hubble Space Telescope in 1990. To illustrate the vast difference between terrestrial and orbital telescopes, compare the Hubble image (shown on the right) to to an image captured by the ground-based observatory in Las Campanas, in Chile. Hubble is capable of sharper imagery. The purpose of this image was to focus the telescope, but it and also demonstrates its capabilities.