Hubble Telescope Marks 22nd Anniversary Of Launch Into Space (PHOTOS)

The Hubble Space Telescope launched on April 24, 1990, ushering in a new era in space exploration.

From its low-earth orbit, the telescope can take pictures without interference from the planet's atmosphere, snapping photographs in visible light, ultraviolet and near-infrared wavelengths.

Scroll Down For Images From The Hubble Space Telescope

Named for astronomer Dr. Edwin Hubble, who established the notion that the universe is expanding, the images the telescope has produced over the past 20 years have similarly changed the course of astronomy, "[turning] astronomical conjectures into concrete certainties," according to the Hubble Space Telescope website.

Its landmark discoveries include more accurately gauging the age of the universe--13 to 14 billion years--and unveiling the existence of dark energy, "a mysterious force that causes the expansion of the universe to accelerate."

The Hubble has also detected gamma ray bursts from giant, collapsed stars, found protoplanetary disks where new planets are forming, and captured images of galaxies in different stages of evolution.

Most recently, the telescope documented the first-ever auroras above Uranus.

In celebration of the 22nd anniversary of the telescope, the Hubble science team released a mosaic image of stars forming in the Tarantula nebula.

In 1929 Dr. Edwin Hubble determined that "the farther a galaxy is from Earth, the faster it appears to move away." This formed the basis of the Big Bang theory, the prevailing cosmological model of the development of the universe.

While the telescope was launched in 1990, scientists soon discovered an imperfection in its main mirror that compromised its performance. This was fixed by astronauts in 1993.

Check out more awesome Hubble photos in the slideshow below.

LOOK: Some Of HuffPost Science's Favorite Hubble Space Telescope Images

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• An Infrared View Of Saturn

  (NASA/STScI;hubblesite.org)

• A Galactic Spectacle

  (NASA/STScI;hubblesite.org)

• Turbulent Gases In The Omega-Swan Nebula

  (NASA/STScI;hubblesite.org)

• The Cone Nebula

  (NASA/STScI;hubblesite.org)

• Remnants Of Supernova Cassiopeia A

  (NASA/STScI;hubblesite.org)

• Galaxy Triplet Arp 274

  (NASA/STScI;hubblesite.org)

• A View Of 'Mystic Mountain'

  (NASA/STScI;hubblesite.org)

• Light And Shadow In The Carina Nebula

  (NASA/STScI;hubblesite.org)

• Mosaic Of Stars Forming In The Tarantula Nebula

  (NASA/STScI;hubblesite.org)

• Light Echo Illuminates Dust Around Supergiant Star V838 Monocerotis

  (NASA/STScI;hubblesite.org)

• New Red Spot Appears On Jupiter

  (NASA/STScI;hubblesite.org)

• Nucleus Of Galaxy Centaurus A

  (NASA/STScI;hubblesite.org)

• Combined X-Ray And Optical Images Of The Crab Nebula

  (NASA/STScI;hubblesite.org)

• Visible-Light Image Of Jupiter

  (NASA/STScI;hubblesite.org)

• Clouds In The Carina Nebula

  (NASA/STScI;hubblesite.org)

• Dust Band Around Nucleus Of Black Eye Galaxy M64

  (NASA/STScI;hubblesite.org)

• Dark Matter Ring In Galaxy Cluster

  (NASA/STScI;hubblesite.org)

• Color Mosaic Of The Galactic Center

  (NASA/STScI;hubblesite.org)

• Eagle Nebula (Detail)

  (NASA/STScI;hubblesite.org)

• Orion Nebula

  (NASA/STScI;hubblesite.org)

• Interacting Spiral Galaxies NGC 2207 And IC 2163

  (NASA/STScI;hubblesite.org)

• Spectacular 'Landscape' In The Carina Nebula

  (NASA/STScI;hubblesite.org)

• The Colorful Demise Of A Sun-Like Star

  (NASA/STScI;hubblesite.org)

• Young Stars In The Small Magellanic Cloud

  (NASA/STScI;hubblesite.org)

Comments

[jefechip]

06:38 PM on 05/07/2012

Incredible, indescribable and surreal. can man ever fully comprehend all of this? doubtful.

[KarmaPatrol]

04:52 PM on 05/07/2012

Beautiful pictures. Reminds us to look beyond the daily rat race every now and then.

[glitterpet]

12:09 AM on 05/05/2012

Forgive me for asking. . I should have looked this up myself, but, well it's late . . does anyone know how these photos are enhanced, and to what degree? And if they are, where you can view the actual photos? Thanks =)

[palindrom]

10:03 PM on 05/08/2012

Your eye would see just a pale glow from most of these objects, because they're so faint. Also, some of the wavelengths used for the pictures are invisible to the eye. But once you allow for that, the pictures are faithful, in that the people making them are trying to represent the original images in some honest way. In no cases do they straight-out fake anything. I've talked to people who do the public-release images from Hubble, and they think long and hard about how to make their images as faithful to the original objects as possible.

I think the colors in the Saturn image are strongly boosted, but the others look at least reasonable to me.

[glitterpet]

10:08 PM on 05/08/2012

Thank you so much. .. I am thrilled to know I am actually seeing things as they pretty much are!  I'ts nice to meet you, and thank you again for your gracious response!  =)

[KingGlorious]

01:48 PM on 05/04/2012

Amazing looking pictures.... Thanks NASA !

[Zurichilux]

03:48 AM on 05/03/2012

I like how Americans are still debating the existence of a an old man who lives in the skies who apparently created planets, stars and galaxies, and yet so passionately hates gays. PROTIP: Stop wasting your life believing in this nonsense, you will regret it when you die and nothing happens.

[Johngy]

06:00 AM on 05/03/2012

Actually, He's a young man. He doesn't hate Mr. Pete Puffer, He just hates his ways. I've died for a few minutes and PLENTY happened! You might want to keep quite on things you know nothing about. It makes you look silly!

[Zurichilux]

10:24 AM on 05/03/2012

Its a shame you didnt die for longer. The world can do without hateful poisonous people like you.

[Scott Allie]

01:31 PM on 05/03/2012

It would be difficult to regret anything when our conciseness no longer is functioning.
You are right though; It is, at best, a waste of time and intellect to consider supernatural events as a possibility.

[g9]

04:04 PM on 05/02/2012

It seems like yesterday...Hundreds of times I have gone to ...heavens-above.com...to see what satalites were going over & when
LOOKING -UP...is wonderful way to expand thought.....
some need a deity to explain what they do not know (faith)...
I only need to look up & wonder....I do not need to make up a way to explain the unknown the unexplainable is just that ...Accept not knowing everything...

[joelarbear87]

01:12 PM on 05/02/2012

I love space.

[TheeMikeHoncho]

02:05 AM on 05/02/2012

I wish i could somehow jump on the Star Trek Enterprise and check out these amazing wonders of the universe.

[frenchyfoof]

04:57 AM on 05/02/2012

Beam me up, Scotty!! :-)

[firewired]

10:31 PM on 05/01/2012

The stars at night have inspired mankind since the dawn. Every kind of person has grown to look at the stars since they started walking the Earth. Being able to see even more of them is a tribute to the better side of mankind; a destination to a journey that has only just begun.

We cannot afford to ignore the possibilities for mankind that are "out there", waiting.
I hate to think that without stars that inspire so many poets, musicians, artists, scientists........there wouldn't be a lot left to inspire us. Only "faith" could prevail! Exploring space employs people of all races, technologies, industries and a wide range of supporting industries that power lots of pay checks. Why NOT go where no one's been before?

Thanks to all who made these pictures possible. Kind of puts mankind in his proper place, in the overall picture; humbling.

[Scott Allie]

08:47 PM on 05/02/2012

I was with you right up until that faith thing. Other than that; Ditto.

[firewired]

10:05 PM on 05/02/2012

Thanks! But what would motivate a person living in darkness? Just askin'....

[fjpoblam]

05:40 PM on 05/01/2012

Imagine, too, that any "folks" living inside those beautiful distant galaxies cannot imagine the stark beauty of their own galaxies as seen from here.

[Jamie Kowalski]

01:55 PM on 05/02/2012

I like this idea. Now imagine that your favorite picture of the most beautiful galaxy in Hubble's archives might actually have been taken from its least attractive angle!

[Melvina Timas Jones]

05:31 PM on 05/01/2012

The pictures from outer space are so beautiful. The colors are very clear I like this.

[vaygollybum]

05:25 PM on 05/01/2012

These nebula are breath taking!

[cangemiart]

01:43 PM on 05/01/2012

I never tire of these photos. The Hubble telescope is one of the greatest accomplishments of the twentieth century. One has no idea of the vastness of this universe until you look at a photo of galaxy "clusters' and realize that these are not stars, but entire galaxies, each with untold billions of stars, appearing as clusters of stars. It is utterly astounding and humbling. How anyone can view these pictures and still think we are alone in the universe and that there is no God is beyond me.

[SidTheScienceKid]

03:06 PM on 05/01/2012

"How anyone can view these pictures..."
Beyond you: most college educated people and a lot of children that were not abused by the religious brainwashing that you had.
There is not god.
There is no logic between your statements; one does not follow the other.

[cangemiart]

05:30 PM on 05/01/2012

Besides having very poor grammar, you are very close minded for a person who calls himself a science kid. I am a college graduate and majored in philosophy and yes I believe in both science AND God. Science has not yet explained the ultimate questions of the universe and is light years away from having the capability to do so, yet people like you worship at the altar of science like IT was a god from which all truth arises. The problem with science is that it only acknowledges ONE way by which man acquires knowledge: the rational interpretation of experience. You do not accept the existence of a transcendent soul which has its own methods of acquiring knowledge because it cannot be put under a microscope. Therefore, you conclude, it does not exist. Well, if science wrote off everything that hasn't yet been proven, it would come to a standstill. There are many mysteries of the universe we don't yet understand but I am open minded enough to believe that we will one day acquire that knowledge. You say there is no God. How do you know? What scientific method did you employ to arrive at that conclusion? If you were as intelligent as you pretend to be, you would at least acknowledge that you don't know whether or not God exists. But to conclude absolutely that he does not exist is ridiculous and unsubstantiated.

[glitterpet]

12:24 AM on 05/05/2012

You have no idea of cangemiart's background, to assume anything about this person's spiritual choices is the height of hubris . . . how is brainwashing by science "worshipers" any different than that of the rabid religiosos you seem to despise if it also closes the mind to possibilities? We often hate in others the very things we see in ourselves. . .

[palindrom]

06:02 PM on 05/01/2012

I've been looking at pictures like this all my life, and I don't believe in any kind of conventional god. I think that why there's something rather than nothing is a great mystery, but once there's something, the rest pretty much follows.

[cangemiart]

06:40 PM on 05/01/2012

First of all, I never mentioned a conventional god. I spoke of God. So it doesn't matter how the something came to be? But once it did come to be it simply structured itself into this vast, immeasurably complex universe by pure chance? Would you stand in front of the Mona Lisa and dismiss it as paint randomly slapped on a piece of wood? When science seeks intelligent life in the universe, what does it look for as proof? Some kind of deliberate pattern suggesting intelligent and organized thought, correct? And yet that is exactly what we see everywhere in the universe of matter, from the largest galaxy to the tiniest atom...deliberate, purposeful patterns and structures. So why don't we accept it as evidence of intelligence or dare I say it, intelligent design? You are much too dismissive of such a profound and immensely vast creation as this universe. The Hubble has given us a glimpse of the universe beyond our imagination. Anyone who is not in awe of these pictures doesn't possess one as far as I'm concerned.

[calderasf]

01:03 PM on 05/01/2012

An amazin' toy for the world.

[hemipwr54]

12:15 PM on 05/01/2012

Look the same old images NASA shows every time they need funding, NASA just shows them over and over again. Color enhanced touch ups.
I can see NASA slowly fading into the sunset, the ride is over, the money has run out, I bid NASA a final farewell, goodbye money pit of useless junk/pseudoscience.

[calderasf]

01:04 PM on 05/01/2012

Blah, blah, blah same post i see ever time great images are shown by a dull witted mind.

[hemipwr54]

01:45 PM on 05/01/2012

I agree the poster of the pictures is dull witted.
Isn't it funny you see the same photos from Hubble over and over and over and over and over again, never anything new? Is Hubble still there? I mean 20 years and billions for 12 pictures, seems wasteful to me. Not to mention had to repair it a few times before it even worked. Yeah call that "dim/dull witted" for sure.

[SidTheScienceKid]

03:09 PM on 05/01/2012

Pseudoscience? It is clear that you have bad education and do not grasp any of the science.
Let me guess your favorite channel... faux news.

[hemipwr54]

06:23 PM on 05/01/2012

No, yours CNN?