It's The Hubble Space Telescope's Birthday. Enjoy Amazing Images Of The Lagoon Nebula

[Judi Lynn]

April 20, 20184:16 PM ET

This month marks the Hubble Space Telescope's 28th anniversary, and as a gift to us earthlings, NASA and the European Space Agency are celebrating with a batch of stunning photos of the Lagoon Nebula, in all of its swirling, explosive beauty.



A NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image of the Lagoon Nebula, which is about 4,000 light-years away. It was taken by Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3 in February. The image was released to celebrate the 28th anniversary of Hubble.
NASA, ESA, STScI

The Hubble "has offered a new view of the universe and has reached and surpassed all expectations for a remarkable 28 years," the agencies said in a statement, adding that the telescope has "revolutionized almost every area of observational astronomy."

Hubble was launched on April 24, 1990, aboard the space shuttle Discovery as a joint project between NASA and the ESA. Each year, the telescope is diverted from important scientific observational duties to take an image of the cosmos in intense detail.

This year's featured image, the Lagoon Nebula, is a colossal stellar nursery, 55 light-years wide and 20 light-years tall, that is about 4,000 light-years away from Earth.

More:
https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/04/20/604368999/its-the-hubble-space-telescope-s-birthday-enjoy-amazing-images-of-the-lagoon-neb?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=space

[dixiegrrrrl]

1. I see 2 birds, a kitten, an angry god/man face....

wow....that is impressive, almost frame-able.

[LakeArenal]

2. My husband thinks the Hubble is the greatest achievement of man..

Personally, I like hot and cold water, right in my house.

[Bayard]

3. Wondrous colors