The Hubble Space Telescope is celebrating its 32nd birthday tomorrow. Since its launch in 1990, the telescope has helped uncover secrets of the universe as well as produced some absolutely stunning images of space.
NASA has released a video about Hubble's birthday, including an overview of some of the things the telescope has imaged and discovered in the last few months and years. Jupiter's Great Red Spot is getting faster and the bands of atmosphere are changing colors, as well as measuring the largest comet ever seen. The study of Jupiter's moons showed that they have water in their atmospheres.
It's within the solar system. Hubble has seen a bubble of gas near the center of our galaxy, an image of a star called CW Leonis, and an ultraviolet image of a planet. Hubble has found a black hole that seems to be helping stars to form instead of destroying them, solved the mystery of a mirrored double galaxy, and found the farthest star ever seen.
Hubble scientists shared a beautiful Hubble image for the telescope's birthday showing a group of five galaxies that are packed together. Three spiral galaxies, one elliptical galaxy, and one lenticular galaxy are all so close together that they will eventually collide and form one large galaxy.
While other dense groups have been observed near the centers of huge clusters, this group is unusual for being located in a relatively empty area of space. One theory is that large amounts of dark matter are clouded around the galaxies, slowing their movements and holding the group together.
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