Hubble launch
APR 21, 2016
DOI: 10.1063/PT.5.031204
Happy birthday Hubble! NASA’s workhorse space telescope was launched into Earth orbit on April 24, 1990. To celebrate the occasion, NASA has released a Hubble image of the Bubble Nebula (NGC 7635). Toward the upper left of the 7-light-year-wide bubble is a hot, young star that is emitting an intense gale of gas that “inflates” the bubble. The star is about 4 million years old but only has another 10 million or so years left before it explodes as a supernova. (Image credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA))
Date in History: 21 April 1990
© 2016. American Institute of Physics