WEBVTT FILE 1 00:00:11.469 --> 00:00:13.596 So to celebrate Hubble's 35th 2 00:00:13.596 --> 00:00:17.642 birthday, we're releasing four new images from Hubble. 3 00:00:17.934 --> 00:00:20.103 There are different parts of the universe. 4 00:00:20.103 --> 00:00:22.981 One of them is the Rosette Nebula. 5 00:00:22.981 --> 00:00:25.900 Or a part of it where stars are still forming. 6 00:00:25.900 --> 00:00:30.280 And you can see dark clouds and then lit up clouds behind those 7 00:00:30.280 --> 00:00:34.534 where new stars are ionizing the gas and showing off this glow. 8 00:00:35.285 --> 00:00:39.372 We also are releasing an image of a planetary nebula. 9 00:00:39.748 --> 00:00:43.209 Now, this colorful nebula really has nothing to do with planets. 10 00:00:43.543 --> 00:00:44.878 That's just what they called it 11 00:00:44.878 --> 00:00:46.296 decades ago. 12 00:00:46.296 --> 00:00:51.217 But it is really the remnants of a dead star system, 13 00:00:51.217 --> 00:00:56.931 and the outflows from the remaining white dwarf star are creating 14 00:00:56.931 --> 00:01:01.811 this glowing cloud that's expanding away from the central sources there. 15 00:01:02.353 --> 00:01:06.941 We have an image from outside of our galaxy, of another galaxy. 16 00:01:07.067 --> 00:01:09.444 This is a spiral galaxy. 17 00:01:09.444 --> 00:01:12.489 It doesn't look quite like we think our Milky Way does, 18 00:01:12.489 --> 00:01:15.575 because the spiral arms are kind of smudged together. 19 00:01:15.575 --> 00:01:18.078 We call it a flocculant spiral. 20 00:01:18.078 --> 00:01:22.082 But in the middle, you see this amazing bar like structure. 21 00:01:22.415 --> 00:01:26.336 These are common in some types of spiral galaxies, and they are the 22 00:01:26.336 --> 00:01:30.507 mechanism by which gas and dust from the outer parts of the galaxy 23 00:01:30.507 --> 00:01:35.053 are funneled in toward the middle and can fuel the formation of new stars. 24 00:01:35.345 --> 00:01:39.099 We think our Milky Way also has some kind of a bar in the center. 25 00:01:39.766 --> 00:01:42.727 And then much closer to home in our own solar system. 26 00:01:43.061 --> 00:01:48.191 We've taken new pictures of Mars. These really wonderful clear 27 00:01:48.191 --> 00:01:53.404 shots of Mars show different features on the planet from different perspectives. 28 00:01:53.446 --> 00:01:58.034 As Mars is rotating, we see the icy poles on the top. 29 00:01:58.034 --> 00:02:01.830 We see clouds, and we can also see mountain ranges 30 00:02:01.830 --> 00:02:05.458 and deep canyons and plane structures. 31 00:02:05.792 --> 00:02:08.962 Mars is an interesting planet to study, both for what 32 00:02:08.962 --> 00:02:11.965 it's doing now, but for what it was like in the past. 33 00:02:12.090 --> 00:02:15.885 These images from the Hubble Space Telescope show us the variety 34 00:02:15.885 --> 00:02:19.013 of scientific discovery that Hubble is capable of doing. 35 00:02:26.312 --> 00:02:31.526 We're using Hubble in new, exciting ways because Hubble sees wavelengths 36 00:02:31.526 --> 00:02:34.529 or colors of light that other observatories 37 00:02:34.529 --> 00:02:38.116 don't see, and vice versa, so we use them in complement. 38 00:02:38.783 --> 00:02:42.579 Scientists are using Hubble's ultraviolet light capabilities 39 00:02:42.579 --> 00:02:46.499 to see this energetic light that comes from star forming regions, 40 00:02:46.499 --> 00:02:50.837 and also explosive events out in the universe from energetic stars. 41 00:02:51.504 --> 00:02:55.258 We're using Hubble to complement the infrared light 42 00:02:55.258 --> 00:02:58.803 observations that the newer Webb Space Telescope can do. 43 00:02:58.928 --> 00:03:02.807 Webb can see deep into the universe some of the earliest galaxies. 44 00:03:03.057 --> 00:03:05.143 Hubble sees nearer galaxies 45 00:03:05.143 --> 00:03:08.730 in all the detail, seeing its hot spots of star formation. 46 00:03:08.980 --> 00:03:12.483 With this information, together, scientists are piecing together 47 00:03:12.483 --> 00:03:18.072 how galaxies have grown and merged and changed over all of cosmic history. 48 00:03:18.198 --> 00:03:20.909 It's a very exciting new dual tool. 49 00:03:28.583 --> 00:03:29.000 Well, when 50 00:03:29.000 --> 00:03:32.879 Hubble was first launched, we were still just trying to understand 51 00:03:32.879 --> 00:03:37.175 some very basics, like how fast is the universe expanding 52 00:03:37.383 --> 00:03:40.929 and what are some of the processes by which stars form. 53 00:03:41.471 --> 00:03:45.183 Hubble has given us an avalanche of information. 54 00:03:45.183 --> 00:03:49.062 We've now measured very precisely the expansion rate of the universe. 55 00:03:49.395 --> 00:03:53.650 And in fact, now, thanks to Hubble working with telescopes on the ground, 56 00:03:53.650 --> 00:03:57.320 we know that that expansion of the universe is accelerating 57 00:03:57.612 --> 00:03:59.656 by something called dark energy. 58 00:03:59.656 --> 00:04:04.535 We've understood that Hubble is picking up signs of dark matter in the universe. 59 00:04:04.535 --> 00:04:10.124 This is mass we can't see, but we see its gravitational effects by distorted light. 60 00:04:10.375 --> 00:04:15.421 Hubble's picked up lots of regions in the universe where dark matter is prevalent, 61 00:04:22.053 --> 00:04:25.598 Scientists are using in particular the Hubble and the Webb space 62 00:04:25.598 --> 00:04:30.687 telescopes in complement because they see different wavelengths of light. 63 00:04:30.728 --> 00:04:35.316 Hubble concentrates on visible light and the energetic ultraviolet 64 00:04:35.316 --> 00:04:40.530 light, and Webb concentrates on red light and infrared light. 65 00:04:40.530 --> 00:04:43.866 And so when we have these observatories used in complement, 66 00:04:44.284 --> 00:04:49.163 we see this whole spectrum of colors that enable us to learn a whole 67 00:04:49.163 --> 00:04:52.458 lot more about whatever we're studying, whether it's the solar system 68 00:04:52.917 --> 00:04:56.629 or other star systems or distant galaxies. 69 00:04:57.630 --> 00:05:00.758 One of the new branches of science newer 70 00:05:01.301 --> 00:05:05.346 is the study of exoplanets planets outside our solar system. 71 00:05:05.930 --> 00:05:09.600 When Hubble was launched, we didn't even know if there were 72 00:05:09.600 --> 00:05:13.104 exoplanetary systems outside of our own solar system. 73 00:05:13.730 --> 00:05:18.860 And in subsequent years, many exoplanets have been discovered by other facilities. 74 00:05:19.319 --> 00:05:22.196 Hubble is now honing in on understanding 75 00:05:22.196 --> 00:05:25.241 the nature of the atmospheres of these exoplanets. 76 00:05:25.241 --> 00:05:30.830 Hubble was the pioneer of a technique of actually understanding the composition 77 00:05:31.205 --> 00:05:35.376 of exoplanet atmospheres, and now that same technique is being used by Webb. 78 00:05:35.626 --> 00:05:38.880 Astronomers are using the Webb and Hubble telescopes together 79 00:05:38.880 --> 00:05:44.093 to get a full spectrum of information about exoplanet atmospheres 80 00:05:44.093 --> 00:05:47.138 from the infrared all the way into the ultraviolet, 81 00:05:47.472 --> 00:05:50.850 and that helps us understand how exoplanet atmospheres 82 00:05:50.850 --> 00:05:54.604 compare to the atmospheres of planets in our own solar system. 83 00:05:55.021 --> 00:05:58.232 This is an example of how Hubble is being used for science 84 00:05:58.232 --> 00:06:01.861 now that was never envisioned when Hubble was designed. 85 00:06:02.278 --> 00:06:07.408 Hubble gave us many discoveries right off the bat that then gave us new questions. 86 00:06:07.742 --> 00:06:11.120 So now scientists are using Hubble to address questions 87 00:06:11.120 --> 00:06:13.873 that were not even imagined when Hubble was designed. 88 00:06:21.547 --> 00:06:22.006 I have 89 00:06:22.006 --> 00:06:25.176 many favorite images from the Hubble Space Telescope. 90 00:06:25.176 --> 00:06:27.095 I love the colorful nebulae 91 00:06:27.095 --> 00:06:30.515 because they show us that star formation is still going on. 92 00:06:31.057 --> 00:06:34.018 But I think my favorite image from Hubble 93 00:06:34.018 --> 00:06:37.063 is something called the Ultra Deep Field. 94 00:06:37.480 --> 00:06:42.235 This was an image taken by simply pointing the telescope in a direction of the sky, 95 00:06:42.235 --> 00:06:45.571 that didn't have a lot of nearby stars to drown out the image, 96 00:06:45.696 --> 00:06:49.075 and just collecting faint light for days and days with Hubble. 97 00:06:49.409 --> 00:06:53.996 The resulting image is famous now it's covered with little splotches of light. 98 00:06:53.996 --> 00:06:56.541 Well, those little splotches are galaxies. 99 00:06:56.541 --> 00:06:59.377 Galaxies outside of our own Milky Way. 100 00:06:59.377 --> 00:07:02.755 And these galaxies can contain hundreds of billions of stars. 101 00:07:03.297 --> 00:07:07.385 I like to imagine being able to go to each one of them and check it out. 102 00:07:07.385 --> 00:07:11.222 We can't do that yet with our technology, but we can do it with our eyes 103 00:07:11.222 --> 00:07:15.560 and just see how galaxies fill the universe, how rich they are. 104 00:07:15.810 --> 00:07:20.148 And of course, scientists are now learning about the history of the universe 105 00:07:20.481 --> 00:07:23.734 by looking at how the more distant galaxies 106 00:07:23.734 --> 00:07:26.737 in this image compare to ones closer to us. 107 00:07:26.946 --> 00:07:30.032 Because astronomy is like a time machine, it's taken time for the light 108 00:07:30.032 --> 00:07:34.704 to get to us and for the more distant ones we're seeing farther back in time. 109 00:07:41.836 --> 00:07:42.670 The Hubble Space 110 00:07:42.670 --> 00:07:46.299 Telescope is in excellent technical condition. 111 00:07:46.716 --> 00:07:50.219 For something that's 35 years old, it's really incredible. 112 00:07:50.219 --> 00:07:53.764 And the reason that Hubble is in good shape is because, first of all, 113 00:07:53.973 --> 00:07:56.976 we've had these series of astronaut servicing 114 00:07:56.976 --> 00:07:59.979 missions where astronauts have returned to the telescope, 115 00:08:00.062 --> 00:08:03.691 put in new and improved instrumentation and repaired components. 116 00:08:04.233 --> 00:08:07.945 And now we have this excellent team of experts on the ground 117 00:08:07.945 --> 00:08:10.990 who are constantly monitoring Hubble's technical health. 118 00:08:11.324 --> 00:08:16.120 They can address any glitches remotely from the ground is pretty incredible. 119 00:08:16.537 --> 00:08:20.791 And we're even learning to operate the observatory in different ways 120 00:08:20.791 --> 00:08:25.671 so that as it ages, we can continue to get excellent scientific results. 121 00:08:32.470 --> 00:08:33.054 The Hubble 122 00:08:33.054 --> 00:08:36.933 team and astronomers everywhere are excited 123 00:08:36.933 --> 00:08:41.145 and very gratified that we're reaching this 35th anniversary 124 00:08:41.854 --> 00:08:44.857 milestone for the Hubble Space Telescope mission. 125 00:08:45.149 --> 00:08:49.111 This mission is older than many people on planet Earth. 126 00:08:49.111 --> 00:08:53.074 A lot of people today have grown up with the Hubble Space Telescope as being a 127 00:08:53.074 --> 00:08:56.619 part of their lives, and that's something I think we can be very proud of, 128 00:08:56.619 --> 00:09:00.957 that this eye on the sky has given people around the world 129 00:09:01.207 --> 00:09:06.629 a new view of the universe, how vast it is, how beautiful it is, 130 00:09:06.879 --> 00:09:10.716 and how active it is, and how we are all fellow citizens 131 00:09:10.716 --> 00:09:15.179 of planet Earth just looking up in awe and wonder at what we're discovering 132 00:09:15.346 --> 00:09:18.349 because of this wonderful miracle of technology. 133 00:09:24.230 --> 00:09:27.233 One of the reasons the world loves the Hubble Space 134 00:09:27.233 --> 00:09:31.070 Telescope is that we've made our images accessible 135 00:09:31.237 --> 00:09:35.032 to people around the world as long as we could do it. 136 00:09:35.032 --> 00:09:39.495 And, you know, with the internet coming on board after Hubble was launched, 137 00:09:39.912 --> 00:09:43.958 it really created a new portal for sharing the observations 138 00:09:43.958 --> 00:09:46.961 of this major space observatory with the world. 139 00:09:47.044 --> 00:09:49.964 And now people are using these Hubble images 140 00:09:49.964 --> 00:09:52.967 for education, for inspiration. 141 00:09:53.092 --> 00:09:56.804 And just to be curious about what's in the universe. 142 00:09:56.804 --> 00:10:01.309 And I love that fact about this mission, and I'm looking forward to many more 143 00:10:01.517 --> 00:10:04.770 images and spectra from Hubble to inspire people 144 00:10:04.770 --> 00:10:07.773 for years to come. 145 00:10:13.154 --> 00:10:16.449 NASA has a wonderful website for information 146 00:10:16.449 --> 00:10:18.492 about the Hubble Space Telescope. 147 00:10:18.492 --> 00:10:21.537 It's nasa.gov/hubble, 148 00:10:22.163 --> 00:10:26.000 and we're also very active on social media at NASA Hubble. 149 00:10:26.417 --> 00:10:29.378 So there's lots of information, all the Hubble images, 150 00:10:29.378 --> 00:10:31.547 a lot of information about Hubble's history, 151 00:10:31.547 --> 00:10:33.799 and a lot of information about Hubble's future. 152 00:10:33.799 --> 00:10:35.760 So I encourage everyone to look.