NASA's Hubble Telescope was launched into low-Earth orbit in the year 1990, and it remains one of the largest and most versatile space telescopes in operation.
NASA
The telescope is due for a long-awaited retirement. It was initially meant to go offline this year, but the date was pushed to the year 2025.
Instead of retiring, NASA is celebrating Hubble. After 30 years scouring the cosmos, NASA released newly processed Hubble images captured by the space telescope, featuring 30 celestial objects like stars, galaxies, and nebulae in stunning detail.
Inverse picked 11of these images for your cosmic viewing pleasure...
Stars often stick together in a cluster, this particular one was dubbed Caldwell 100 and is located 6,000 light years away from Earth in nebula IC 2944.
NASA and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA); Acknowledgment: Bo Reipurth (University of Hawaii)
This planetary nebula earned its nickname, 'Blinking Planetary' as it has a white dwarf star at its center surrounded by a green colored blob of gas and dust.
NASA/ESA et al.
The 'Cat Eye' Nebula features a hypnotic series of expanding gas coming from the aging star at the center as it slowly nears the end of its life.
NASA, ESA, HEIC, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA); Acknowledgment: R. Corradi (Isaac Newton Group of Telescopes, Spain) and Z. Tsvetanov (NASA)
The spiral galaxy NGC 89 is about 35 million light years away from Earth in the constellation Andromeda and looks a lot like our own galaxy, the Milky Way.
ESA/Hubble & NASA; Acknowledgment: Nick Rose
This heavenly image features the Iris Nebula, with its glowing clouds of gas that extend roughly 6 light years across.
NASA & ESA
This mid-sized spiral galaxy is not only captivating to the eyes, but astronomers have observed a record-breaking total of 10 supernovae in NGC 6946.
NASA, ESA, and L. Ho (Peking University); Processing: Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America)
The Double Cluster in Perseus is actually two open star clusters side by side, containing hundreds of young, bright stars.
NASA, ESA, and S. Casertano (Space Telescope Science Institute); Processing: Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America)
This beautiful display of glowing material in the cosmos is a planetary nebula that began forming 10,000 years ago when a dying star began flinging material into space.
NASA, Andrew Fruchter, and the ERO Team [Sylvia Baggett (STScI), Richard Hook (ST-ECF), Zoltan Levay (STScI)]
These two galaxies have been battling it out for the past hundred million years or so, entangled by each other's gravitational pull.
ESA/Hubble & NASA
The explosive supernova of a star 20 times more massive than the Sun left behind this stunning display of gas and dust that extends 110 light years across.
NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team
The 'Butterfly Nebula' features layers of gas being ejected from a central star at a speed of over a million miles per hour.
NASA, ESA, and the Hubble SM4 ERO Team
To view the full collection of Hubble's latest release, visit the telescope's flickr page.