Hubble Space Telescope

Spacecraft· NASA / ESAactive

Hubble Space Telescope — orbiting since 1990, it has transformed astronomy with deep-field views across the universe.

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Key facts

Current speed

31.6 km/s

Distance from Sun

1.01 AU

Status

Active

Launched

1990

Mission & specifications

Mission

Operator: NASA / ESA
Launched: April 24, 1990
Status: Active

Trajectory

Current speed: 31.6 km/s
Distance from the Sun: 1.01 AU
Distance from Earth: 385,787 km
Distance from Venus: 0.646 AU

Cost & funding

Program cost: $1.60 × 10¹⁰ USD

Mission

The Hubble Space Telescope is arguably the most influential scientific instrument of the modern era. Launched aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery on 24 April 1990, the bus-sized observatory orbits about 540 km up, above the blurring and absorbing effects of the atmosphere. Its early promise was nearly ruined: its 2.4-metre mirror had been ground to slightly the wrong shape, leaving images blurred. In a dramatic 1993 servicing mission, astronauts installed corrective optics — in effect, spectacles for the telescope — restoring its sight. Four more Shuttle servicing missions, the last in 2009, upgraded its instruments and kept it running far beyond its planned life. Over three decades Hubble has made more than 1.5 million observations, from planets and nebulae in our own neighbourhood to galaxies whose light left them over 13 billion years ago. It pinned down the universe's expansion rate, helped reveal that the expansion is accelerating — the work behind a Nobel Prize — and produced era-defining images such as the 'Pillars of Creation' and the Hubble Deep Field. Still working today alongside the James Webb Space Telescope, Hubble has reshaped both professional astronomy and the public's view of the cosmos.

1990Launch aboard Shuttle DiscoveryLaunch
Deployed into a ~540 km orbit by the Space Shuttle to observe above the atmosphere.
1990Mirror flaw discoveredMilestone
Engineers trace blurred images to a spherical aberration in the primary mirror.
1993Servicing Mission 1Milestone
Astronauts install corrective optics (COSTAR) and a new camera, restoring Hubble's vision.
1995The Hubble Deep FieldMilestone
A ten-day exposure of a tiny dark patch reveals thousands of distant galaxies.
2009Final servicing missionMilestone
Servicing Mission 4 installs new instruments, extending Hubble's life well into the 2030s.

Images

The Hubble Space Telescope in orbit — NASA (public domain) · Wikimedia Commons

The Faces of Vesta — NASA/ESA/STScI/UMd · NASA Image Library

Dance of Saturn Auroras — NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Colorado/Central Arizona College and NASA/ESA/University of Leicester and NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona/Lancaster University · NASA Image Library

Two Views of Vesta Bright and Dark — NASA/ESA/PSI/MIT and NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA · NASA Image Library

Comparing Vesta Topography — NASA/ESA/Cornell and NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA · NASA Image Library

Carina Nebula Detail — NASA/GSFC · NASA Image Library

Light Echo — NASA/GSFC · NASA Image Library

Crab Nebula — NASA/GSFC · NASA Image Library

Images from open archives · credit shown per image