Hubble Celebrates 35th Year In Orbit

To celebrate the Hubble Space Telescope's 35th anniversary in orbit, NASA and ESA released a series of new, out-out-of-this-world images spanning planets, nebulae, and galaxies. From a press release: Hubble today is at the peak of its scientific return thanks to the dedication, perseverance and skills of engineers, scientists and mission operators. Astronaut shuttle crews gallantly chased and rendezvoused with Hubble on five servicing missions from 1993 to 2009. The astronauts, including ESA astronauts on two of the servicing missions, upgraded Hubble's cameras, computers and other support systems.

By extending Hubble's operational life the telescope has made nearly 1.7 million observations, looking at approximately 55,000 astronomical targets. Hubble discoveries have resulted in over 22,000 papers and over 1.3 million citations as of February 2025. All the data collected by Hubble is archived and currently adds up to over 400 terabytes. The demand for observing time remains very high with 6:1 oversubscriptions, making it one of the most in-demand observatories today.

Hubble's long operational life has allowed astronomers to see astronomical changes spanning over three decades: seasonal variability on the planets in our solar system, black hole jets traveling at nearly the speed of light, stellar convulsions, asteroid collisions, expanding supernova bubbles, and much more.

Time flies

[MarkHughes4096]

35 years ? Had you asked me I would have said 20 at most... The years just slip by...

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[serviscope_minor]

Um yeah? It would be really fucking stupid to cut the funding for such an instrument which is insanely expensive to replace and still producing amazing results. But you know money to fund Hubble is hard to divert to enrich the presidictator's oligarch buddies so it's a good candidate for the chop.

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[FictionPimp]

Like building a whole telescope then trying to cut the funding to send it into space? https://futurism.com/trump-can... [futurism.com]

A heroic success

[sometimesblue]

I can remember when it was launched, and the name Hubble became synonymous for being a bit rubbish. Eveything went wrong. It was launched into the wrong orbit, the lens was scratched (The lens was scratched!), it shuddered when the solar panels expanded and contracted when entering and leaving sunlight. And here with are 35 years later, with all its many, major initial failings forgotten. Its almost the american dream of failing till you make it.

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[JockTroll]

The lens was not scratched, the mirror was ground the wrong shape. The orbit was not wrong, it was an issue with its stabilization. You would have known if you had researched it, but you did not. Deorbit yourself into a landfill.

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[Teun]

Quite :)
I too remember the launch and subsequent repair mission by a space shuttle crew, great feats of engineering that required lots of cooperation.
This makes me think of what I have done over these 35 years...

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[sometimesblue]

Apologies. It was 35 years ago. My memory isn't what it was.

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[know-nothing cunt]

You're sounding a bit geeky there, Jock. Feel free to beat the crap out of yourself.

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[Ol Olsoc]

The lens was not scratched, the mirror was ground the wrong shape. The orbit was not wrong, it was an issue with its stabilization. You would have known if you had researched it, but you did not. Deorbit yourself into a landfill.

I made a presentation at the time that included an image of who I said was the designer of the Hubble - It was Mr. Magoo.

That was a time when people had a sense of humor, so it got quite a reaction.

Space Shuttle repair missions were fantastic!

[jfdavis668]

Check out video or images of them. Probably the most fantastic thing ever done in space.

I thought it got knocked out of orbit

[Chris Mattern]

"Mike broke the Hubble! Mike broke the Hubble!"