Happy Birthday Hubble! To celebrate the telescope in space for 30 years, the team behind Hubble released an amazing new image of two nebulae in the Large Magellenic Cloud, a small galaxy about 163,000 light-years in our Milky Way.
According to NASA, the larger red nebula is NGC 2014, and bright, newly formed stars are 10-20 times the size of the sun. The blue nebula, NGC 2020, formed when a star 200,000 times larger than the Sun released a huge amount of gas.
The researchers thought that the image was very similar to a coral reef and titled the result, & # 39; Cosmic Reef & # 39 ;.
"Hubble's exquisite vision from orbit above the Earth's atmosphere gives us a clear view of this kind of amazing beauty and activity." Hubble chief project scientist Jennifer Wiseman said he produced the video with the image released.
However, the shape of the telescope was not good when it was launched 30 years ago. "The small defects in the mirror made all the images I shot blurry and out of focus, and I needed five separate repair missions to get a great look today." Sean O & # 39; Kane wrote for the 25th anniversary of Hubble.
"The launch of such a large telescope 30 years ago is revolutionary, and this astronomical powerhouse still offers innovative science today." Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA's science department manager, said in a statement. "That gorgeous image has captured imagination for decades and will continue to inspire humanity."