Announcements

15 December 2023: To celebrate another year of exciting images and discoveries from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, and the completion of the first year of science operations with the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope, ESA/Hubble and ESA/Webb have released a new calendar for 2024 that showcases beautiful imagery from both missions. The 2024 calendar features a selection of images from Press Releases (from Hubble and Webb), Hubble Pictures of the Week and Webb Pictures of the Month published throughout 2023. These include imagery of planets, star clusters, galaxies, and more. It can now be accessed electronically for anyone to print, share and enjoy (please see the links provided below). The images featured in the calendar are as follows: Cover: The subject of the first anniversary image from the James Webb Space Telescope is the Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex, the closest star-forming region to Earth. Jets bursting from young stars crisscross the image, …

24 October 2023: A special Announcement of Opportunity (AO) is soliciting the participation of the European community in the role of ESA-appointed representatives to the NASA Great Observatory Maturation Program’s (GOMAP) Science, Technology, Architecture Review Team (START) for the Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO) mission. The 2020 National Academy of Sciences Decadal Survey on Astronomy and Astrophysics (Astro2020) recommended a "Great Observatories Mission and Technology Maturation Program" as its highest priority in Enabling Programs for Space. Astro2020 further recommended that the first mission to enter the maturation program be an infrared-optical-ultraviolet (IR/Optical/UV) space telescope. In response to these recommendations, NASA has established the Great Observatory Maturation Program (GOMAP). Consistent with the guidance from Astro2020, the first entrant into GOMAP will be the Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO), a space-based IR/Optical/UV telescope. As part of GOMAP, NASA will form and coordinate a series of groups whose collective activities will perform and document analyses that advance HWO's …

19 December 2022: To celebrate another year of exciting images and discoveries from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, and the first year of operations with the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope, ESA/Hubble and ESA/Webb have released a new calendar that showcases beautiful imagery from both missions for 2023. The 2023 calendar features a selection of images from Press Releases (from Hubble and Webb), Hubble Pictures of the Week and Webb Pictures of the Month published throughout 2022. These include imagery of planets, star clusters, galaxies, and more. It can now be accessed electronically for anyone to print, share and enjoy (please see the links provided below). The images featured in the calendar are as follows: Cover: This landscape of mountains and valleys speckled with glittering stars is actually the edge of a nearby, young, star-forming region called NGC 3324 in the Carina Nebula. Captured in infrared light by the James Webb Space Telescope, …

2 December 2022: A new version of the European Hubble Space Telescope (eHST) Science Archive, hosted at ESA’s European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC) in Madrid, has been released. The ESAC Science Data Centre (ESDC) has developed a new infrastructure for the user interface and backend services for the eHST archive, to help maximise the science return of this precious data resource. The eHST archive employs common procedures and tools, originally developed by the Canadian Astronomy Data Centre (CADC) in close collaboration with ESDC and the Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes (MAST) at the Space Telescope Science Institute, to synchronise observational metadata and publicly-available data by mirroring the MAST HST archive. With more than 1.5 million observations now completed by Hubble, the new eHST interface has been designed to enable effective and intuitive exploration of this rich data archive. It also includes accompanying catalogues (e.g., the Hubble Source Catalogue) and higher-level data products. The …

16 December 2021: To celebrate another year of exciting images and discoveries from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, ESA/Hubble has released a new calendar for 2022. The 2022 calendar features a selection of images from Press Releases and Pictures of the Week published throughout 2021. These include imagery of planets, star clusters, galaxies, and more. It can now be accessed electronically for anyone to print, share and enjoy (please see the links provided below). The images featured in the calendar are as follows: Cover: The Veil Nebula, which resides around 2100 light-years from Earth in the constellation of Cygnus, was the subject of new processing techniques in 2021, bringing out fine details of the nebula’s delicate threads and filaments of ionised gas. January: The supernova remnant known as 1E 0102.2-7219, which is located roughly 200 000 light-years away. Because the gaseous knots in this supernova remnant are moving at different speeds and directions …

20 October 2021: The ESA/Hubble and ESASky team have collaboratively developed an application programming interface that connects the outreach images on the ESA/Hubble website with the ESASky application, which allows users to visualise public astronomical data. When users dive in the Whirlpool Galaxy details, navigate the colors of the Crab Nebula, or surf through the Pillars of Creation, users can now enjoy an interactive tour of all public outreach images taken with the Hubble Space Telescope on ESASky's virtual planetarium. The ESA/Hubble outreach image pages now link to the appropriate locations on the ESASky platform. ESASky is a web-based app, powered by CDS's Aladin, which helps users to interact with outreach astronomical images and datasets taken in different bands of light; including those obtained by ESA missions. As a unique educational tool, users who are interested in the more detailed science behind Hubble’s wide variety of breathtaking images can now also enjoy data-driven …

28 July 2021: ESA/Hubble has developed a special Word Bank, which provides insightful explanations of various astronomical concepts and objects in simple language. The latest project developed by the ESA/Hubble outreach team is the ESA/Hubble Word Bank. This resource was developed to be an informative and educative resource for students, parents, educators, communicators, and the general public alike. Each of the words featured in this unique glossary is accompanied by a simple definition and an explanation of various astronomical concepts and objects in simple and accessible language. These descriptions also provide context and connections to Hubble’s relevance and contributions to the respective areas or objects of research. The Word Bank will continue to be regularly developed and expanded. Please contact us if you have a suggestion for a word or concept you’d like to see included in the Word Bank. Check out all of the ESA/Hubble 31st Anniversary initiatives that have been announced …

14 May 2021: Each year in the month of April, the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope celebrates its anniversary. ESA/Hubble uses this opportunity to develop special initiatives to engage and involve the public in this annual milestone. On 24 April 2021 Hubble celebrated its 31st birthday. ESA/Hubble is inviting our community to join the celebrations by incorporating the beloved telescope into their daily lives. Keeping the current virtual interactions in mind, the ESA/Hubble team has developed a series of fun initiatives, including a “Which Hubble image are you” Instagram filter, a Facebook frame, Zoom backgrounds and smartphone wallpapers. On Instagram, ESA/Hubble has published two Augmented Reality filters. One filter allows you to take a quiz to see which Hubble image you are, while the other one will place you against a starry background and show the Hubble spacecraft orbiting you. The filters can be found by two means on the Instagram app. From your …

14 April 2021: ESA/Hubble has developed a special Chrome browser application to allow users to enjoy the Top 100 Images collection while browsing the internet. It is now available on the Chrome Web Store. Each year in the month of April, the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope celebrates its anniversary. ESA/Hubble uses this opportunity to develop special initiatives to engage and involve the public in this annual milestone. On 24 April 2021 Hubble will be celebrating its 31st birthday. The latest project developed by the ESA/Hubble outreach team is the ESA/Hubble Chrome Application, which is now available on the Chrome Web Store. Once installed, the user will be shown an image from the ESA/Hubble Top 100 Images collection in each new opened tab. This tool was developed with the intention of inviting the general public to enjoy the variety of beautiful images as they go about their daily activities and interests while browsing the …

7 April 2021: ESA/Hubble now has a GIPHY account, complete with looping videos of your favourite Hubble Space Telescope images, videos, and animations. Each year in the month of April, the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope celebrates its anniversary. ESA/Hubble uses this opportunity to develop special initiatives to engage and involve the public in this annual milestone. On 24 April 2021 Hubble will be celebrating its 31st birthday. The latest project developed by the ESA/Hubble outreach team is the ESA/Hubble GIPHY Account. GIPHY is an online database and search engine that allows users to search for and share short looping videos with no sound, that resemble animated GIF files. Each of the looping videos on the ESA/Hubble GIPHY page points to the original accompanying press release. This collection was developed to be a fun and interactive resource for the general public. Each of the short looping videos can be shared on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, …

18 March 2021: Astronomy is predominantly a visual science. However, something important is needed to produce breathtaking color images from the observations made with telescopes such as the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope and Chandra X-ray Observatory, or the telescopes of NSF’s NOIRLab at the international Gemini Observatory, Kitt Peak National Observatory, or Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory. The key to unlocking those magnificent vistas is specialized image-processing software. Since its first release in 2004, FITS Liberator has been a popular image-processing tool to help astronomers and the public produce beautiful images from observations recorded in the FITS (Flexible Image Transport System) file format commonly used in astronomy. Among image-processing experts, this process is known as “liberation,” where the data is converted to an image format that can be edited in standard graphics software. In the process, users have access to powerful options to manage the high dynamic range intrinsic to astronomical data to create …

3 March 2021: Image webpages on the ESA/Hubble website now include the integration of a new image app utilising the power of the Aladin Interactive Sky Atlas. This app allows users to explore astronomical images or full surveys and to superimpose and compare multi-wavelength entries from Hubble’s astronomical datasets. This new interactive app can be found at the bottom-right of each image webpage, where other image metadata (colours, filters, coordinates, etc.) are provided and overlays the image on top of astronomical surveys to enable personal exploration. The Aladin Interactive Sky Atlas is a project of the Centre de Données astronomiques de Strasbourg (CDS — Strasbourg astronomical Data Centre) in France. The CDS is dedicated to the collection and worldwide distribution of astronomical data and related information. The centre is host to the SIMBAD database, an astronomical database of objects beyond the Solar System that is the world reference database for the identification of …

17 February 2021: ESA/Hubble is excited to unveil its new video series entitled Space Sparks. These short videos will highlight and explain news and images from the Hubble Space Telescope, future missions, and general astronomical topics. The new Space Sparks series will be a continuation of the popular Hubblecast series, which published a total of 133 episodes from 2007 to 2020. These freely available videos are an informative and educative resource for students, parents, educators, communicators, and the general public alike! We invite you to watch the first episode of Space Sparks, which highlights the exciting results of a recent ESA/Hubble science release. Like the Hubblecasts, all Space Sparks videos will be offered for download in several formats: standard (.mov, .mpeg, .mp4, .m4v), HD (High Definition) and Full HD. Please read the FAQs for more info on the specs of these formats. For more information on the use and sharing of ESA/Hubble videos, …

1 January 2021: To celebrate another year of exciting images and discoveries from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, ESA/Hubble has released a new calendar for 2021. Titled The Latest Spectacular images from the Cosmos, the calendar features a selection of images from photo releases and Pictures of the Week published throughout 2020. The 2021 calendar features Hubble imagery of planets, star clusters, galaxies, and more. It can now be accessed electronically for anyone to print, share and enjoy. The images featured in the calendar are described below: Cover: Hubble’s 30th anniversary image features the giant nebula NGC 2014 and its neighbour NGC 2020, which together form part of a vast star-forming region approximately 163 000 light-years away. January: Galaxy UGC 2885, which resides 232 million light-years away, may be the largest in the local universe. It is 2.5 times wider than our Milky Way and contains 10 times as many stars. February: The …

16 December 2020: How does spectroscopy work and what can the study of light tell us about the Universe? How are astronomers using spectroscopy to study exoplanets in the search for life? This Hubblecast will explore how spectroscopy works and how it facilitates valuable research with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, including innovative research in the study of exoplanets. The video also highlights how Hubble’s spectroscopy data will be complemented by those of the upcoming NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope. Many other Hubblecast episodes are also available on the Hubblecast website.

26 August 2020: On 24 April 2020, the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope celebrated 30 years of science discoveries that have revolutionised nearly all areas of current astronomical research, from planetary science to cosmology, and its countless pictures are unmistakably out of this world. ESA/Hubble has launched various initiatives to celebrate this special occasion, which included an invitation to the general public to submit Hubble-inspired creations to be used for ESA/Hubble outreach activities. Artistic creations of all kinds were encouraged, and the submissions received included drawings, paintings, sculptures, music and poetry that were all inspired by the Hubble Space Telescope. More than 130 creations were received from around the world from professional and non-professional artists and creators alike. The ESA/Hubble team was delighted by the variety of the submissions, as they truly demonstrated the public’s love for Hubble and how we can creatively celebrate special milestones during times of isolation. A Flickr album and …

27 April 2020: On 24 April 2020, the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope celebrated 30 years since its launch. It has since surpassed all expectations, beaming back data and images that have changed scientists’ understanding of the Universe and the public’s perception of it. To mark this special occasion, ESA/Hubble has developed two new special Hubblecasts. Hubblecast 128: 30 Years of Science with the Hubble Space Telescope Hubble’s discoveries have revolutionised nearly all areas of current astronomical research, from planetary science to cosmology, and its pictures are unmistakably out of this world.Hubblecast 128 revisits some of Hubble’s biggest science discoveries throughout its three decades of operation. Hubblecast 129: Hubble’s Collection of Anniversary Images Each year, the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope dedicates a small portion of its precious observing time to taking a special anniversary image, focused on capturing particularly beautiful and meaningful objects. To celebrate Hubble’s 30th anniversary, Hubblecast 129 looks back at the …

24 April 2020: While many of us are staying at home during these challenging times, ESA/Hubble is inviting you to get creative to help us celebrate Hubble’s 30th birthday! On 24 April 2020, the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope will be celebrating 30 years of science discoveries that have revolutionised nearly all areas of current astronomical research, from planetary science to cosmology, and its countless pictures are unmistakably out of this world. ESA/Hubble has launched various initiatives to celebrate this special occasion, and the latest project invites the general public to submit Hubble-themed artwork. A selection of submitted artwork will be featured in future ESA/Hubble outreach activities. Artistic creations of all kinds are encouraged. This includes drawings, paintings, photography, sculptures, and graphic designs that thank and celebrate the Hubble Space Telescope. Inspiration can include: Hubble’s 30th anniversary The Hubble Space Telescope spacecraft Hubble’s scientific achievements Hubble’s beautiful imagery We also invite you to create …

23 April 2020: On Friday 24 April 2020, the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope will be celebrating 30 years of science discoveries that have revolutionised nearly all areas of current astronomical research, from planetary science to cosmology, and its countless pictures are unmistakably out of this world. At 13:00 Central European Summer Time on 24 April 2020, a press release will be published on spacetelescope.org featuring the new anniversary image in addition to other commemorative visuals. A Hubble 30 Press Package will also be available at the same time. This release will also include two new Hubblecasts for the Hubble Space Telescope’s 30th anniversary. These documentary-style movies will be offered for download and use in several formats on the spacetelescope.org website. One features some of Hubble’s biggest science discoveries throughout its three decades of operation, and the other looks back at the beauty and science behind each of the anniversary images unveiled as of …

10 April 2020: While many of us are staying at home during these challenging times, ESA/Hubble is inviting you to get creative to celebrate Hubble’s upcoming 30th birthday! On 24 April 2020, the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope will be celebrating 30 years of science discoveries that have revolutionised nearly all areas of current astronomical research, from planetary science to cosmology, and its countless pictures that are unmistakably out of this world. ESA/Hubble has launched various initiatives to celebrate this special occasion, and the latest project invites ESA/Hubble’s social media followers to wish Hubble a Happy 30th birthday by preparing a birthday cake. You can make your cake out of traditional kitchen ingredients, or we also invite you to get creative by making a unique birthday cake made from other materials, such as paper, crafts, modelling clay, or Lego blocks! We invite you to share your creations with us by taking a picture or …