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The Hubble Space Telescope has given us
an incredible image for its 30th birthday.
This image reveals a beautiful nursery for new stars
in a nearby satellite galaxy to our own Milky Way.
The bright, newly-formed stars in the middle of this image
are at least ten times more massive than our Sun.
Powerful radiation from these stars is causing the surrounding gas
to glow in stunning colors.
The blue indicates oxygen gas
heated to nearly 20,000 degrees Fahrenheit.
The red indicates the presence of nitrogen and hydrogen.
Those massive stars are also driving powerful winds
of charged particles which are sculpting out
the bubble and ridge structures we can see across the nebula.
The blue nebula at the lower left of the image is actually
material ejected from a single huge star in the center,
that star is 200,000 times brighter than our Sun.
The whole region shows how dynamic our universe is
with stars continuing to form and affect their surroundings.
And it's Hubble's exquisite vision from its orbit above Earth's atmosphere
that gives us the ability to get a clear glimpse
of this kind of incredible beauty and activity.
The Hubble Space Telescope has changed the way we think of space
and our place in the universe.
Hubble has refined our understanding of the age of the universe
and its rate of expansion.
And through its deep fields it has peered across billions of light-years
to reveal ancient, adolescent galaxies
we can compare with our own Milky Way.
It has shown us the telltale effects
of mysterious dark energy and dark matter.
And it has given us a front row seat to these beautiful
interstellar clouds, and nebulas, where new stars
and their surrounding disks of dust and planets
continue to form.
Hubble is in excellent technical health
and is expected to continue its exploration of the universe
for quite a few years to come.
Multiple astronaut missions to service
the Hubble Space Telescope over the years
have kept Hubble at the forefront of capability.
With each servicing mission, astronauts repaired,
or replaced instrumentation,
keeping Hubble better than ever before.
The final servicing mission in 2009 was extremely successful
so that even today, Hubble is more scientifically powerful
and productive than ever before.
You can find out more about the Hubble Space Telescope
at the website: nasa.gov/hubble and on social media @NASAHubble.
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