When astronauts last visited the Hubble telescope, which was about the size of a school bus, in space, they installed an improved camera.
Twelve years later, the "workhouse" camera (Hubbles Widefield Camera 3), still captures bright, vivid galaxies within the cosmos. NASA shared Friday's stunning image of NGC 1385, a spiral galaxy.
The galaxy's arms can be seen along its sides and bottom, while the bright core shows areas rich in stars. It is 68 million light years away.
The magnificent NGC 1385. Credit to ESA / Hubble & NASA / J. Lee & the PHANGS/HST Team
Although the legendary Hubble Telescope has reached its end of life, it still produces rich images. The James Webb Space Telescope is the highly anticipated next generation space telescope and will launch on Halloween 2021.
Hubble's mirror is only eight feet in diameter, while Webb has a large mirror that measures over 21 feet. The higher resolution of deep-space objects is achieved by a larger mirror. Keep an eye out for the fall launch.
