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About the Hubble Exhibit

The images below have been on display at Dulles International Airport in Virginia, USA, since summer 2021, giving the public opportunities to experience the results of NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. The images span the breadth of Hubble science, from the local cosmic neighborhood of our solar system and planets orbiting other stars — all the way out to colorful nebulas and distant galaxies in the first eons of the universe. These panels preview some of the high-resolution images Hubble has returned, taken in ultraviolet, visible, and near-infrared light, since its launch in 1990.

Crowded field of galaxies on the black background of space. Galaxies appear white, gold, and pale blue. They range in size and brightness, some with distinguishable spiral features or halos, others tiny pinpricks in the distance.
Hubble Ultra Deep Field: Image of Extremely Distant Galaxies
Hundreds of galaxies of various colors and sizes are scattered across the black background of space. About a dozen curved or wavy white streaks, which mostly appear to follow invisible concentric circles, curve around the center.
Galaxy Cluster Abell 370
A nearly face-on view of a spiral galaxy against the black background of space. The galaxy’s core is bright white. Beyond this, diffuse spiral arms form a rough oval. The spiral arms are pink and brown closer to the core and largely blue at the outer edges.
Spiral Galaxy UGC 2885: Rubin's Galaxy
At left, text reads: Discovering Distant Galaxies. A group of galaxies. Each has a slightly different size, shape, structure, and coloring, and all have a bright core. Scattered across the image, in front of the galaxies are a number of foreground stars that look like dots.
Interacting Galaxies: Stephan's Quintet
Two galaxies against the black background of space. The galaxy at left is edge-on and appears as a long thin line. At its core are irregular lanes of dark brown dust. Beyond the dust, the shape appears mainly bright white. The galaxy at right is a large spiral seen mostly face-on. Its core is bright white and its spiral arms are a mix of bright blue and dark brown.
Galaxies NGC 4302 and NGC 4298
A spiral galaxy takes up almost the entire frame. The galaxy is slightly tilted away toward the top, but mostly face-on. The galaxy has a bright yellow central core that is surrounded by spiral arms that are a mix of pink, blue, and dark brown. Faint, red plumes of gas appear to rise above the galaxy. The background of space is black.
Spiral Galaxy M106
A portion of the Andromeda galaxy fills the image. Very bright, densely packed stars appear at bottom left, and radiate out in shades of yellow toward the right, through about a third of the image. Moving out from this central galactic bulge are lanes of blue stars and dark dust that become sparser toward the right.
Andromeda Galaxy
On a black star-filled background, a large spiral galaxy is just off-center. To its right is a far smaller yellow elliptical galaxy. The center of the larger galaxy is beige. Two long arms filled with brown dust lanes and blue stars and star clusters wind clockwise. In the arms are patches of bright pink spots. The arm that curves at the very top reaches out to a fuzzy yellow ball of light, the second galaxy.
Whirlpool Galaxy and Companion Galaxy
At top left, text reads: Investigating New Worlds. A jagged line with several peaks runs from left to right, beginning in red at left and fading into yellow, green, blue, and purple at far right. At right is an illustration showing a portion of a rocky planet lit by a smaller red star at top-center. The background of space is black.
Illustration of a Rocky Exoplanet and Its Spectrum 
Illustration of a large gas giant planet lit by a smaller yellow star at top-left. The lit portion of the planet is largely pink and blue. A jagged line with several peaks and valleys runs from left to right, beginning in red at left and fading into yellow, green, blue, and purple at far right. There are other, smaller planets above the jagged line. The background of space is black.
Illustration of a Gas Giant Exoplanet and Its Spectrum
A portion of the Carina Nebula, resembling a mountain with ridges, peaks, and valleys. A steep triangular-shaped pillar of fluffy, brown material is in the center against a streaky blue background.
Star-Forming Region: Mystic Mountain
Four images show the same object, smallest at left and largest at right. Labels at the bottom read from left to right: May 2002, September 2002, October 2002, December 2002. At the center of each is a red star against the black background of space. They are each surrounded by a face-on doughnut of wispy material that is mostly tan with bluish edges. This wispy material appears to expand from left to right. Some blue stars are seen scattered across each field of view.
Red Supergiant Star V838 Monocerotis
A star-forming region. Toward the edges of the frame are orange clouds of dust and gas lined with pillar-like protrusions that point toward the center. At the center are many bright white and blue stars set against a semi-transparent white haze. The background of space, seen best at the corners, is black.
Star Cluster NGC 602
A densely populated field of stars set against the black background of space. Slightly larger stars are deep red and bright blue. More distant stars are tinier and often white or yellow.
Globular Star Cluster Omega Centauri
Two roughly spherical white blobs of gas are connected by a bridge of material and look somewhat like an hourglass on its side. A bright splotch of light with rays that shoot outward is near the middle of the bridge. Streaky blue clouds of material are above the twin globes of the hourglass, and beyond that are red regions. The background of space is black.
Variable Star Eta Carinae and Its Ejections
A giant red nebula, NGC 2014, takes up two-thirds of the frame. Its smaller blue neighbor, NGC 2020, lies at bottom-left. NGC 2014 looks like a reef or sea sponge. It is semi-transparent red at the bottom and more opaque at its center, where there are shades of teal. NGC 2020 looks like a loose blue hairband with a hole in the middle and semi-transparent, irregular material at the edges. Both are set against the black background of space, which is speckled with pinpoints of light.
Star-Forming Region NGC 2014 and NGC 2020 Known as the Cosmic Reef
A nebula full of gas, dust, and a few stars. The roughly circular center contains red and orange filaments of gas that expand in all directions. To the right, there are soft dark brown filaments and clouds. The left is illuminated blueish white, which mixes with the orange filaments. Mixed in with these structures are stars, seen as red dots.
Star-Forming Region: The Carina Nebula
In the middle is a translucent, large blue bubble whose edges are brighter than the middle. At the top of the bubble, an orange-brown region extends almost vertically from the bubble’s edge about halfway down to its middle. At the upper left corner lie billowing clouds of orange and brown. A few dozen pink stars are sprinkled throughout. The background is uneven, appearing in darker shades of blues and oranges.
Dying Star Forms the Bubble Nebula
At the right side is a small hourglass shape with an orange outline. It is angled toward the top right and bottom left. At its center is a bright white dot. Two larger, but incomplete hourglass shapes extend from the central region, beginning in a dark orange and ending in green. Four smaller single-color versions of this shape appear at left, two by two. At the bottom is a mostly straight, but irregular line that begins in green, transitions to yellow and ends in red. There are several large spikes that extend vertically above and below the line. The background is black.
Southern Crab Nebula: Its Chemical Makeup and Spectrum
A bright light blue irregular oval appears at center. Outside that are two wider circles. The first is light orange. The second is a darker orange and takes the rough shape of a human eye. There are a few pink stars. The background of space is black.
Helix Nebula: Formed by a Dying Star
Colorful, opaque layers of gas and dust. The focal point is at the center, where the brightest teals are in the background. They are surrounded by layers of dark gas in deep purples and dark reds. From the center to the top, there are a few light orange layers near the central teal region. Overlapping layers of purple, red, and purple dust extend to the top.
Lagoon Nebula: Star-Forming Region
A nebula of purple, orange, brown, and bright red gas and dust forms a semicircle at left, surrounding a cluster of white and red stars. The top-left and middle-bottom-right contain light brown dust. The middle appears lighter and brighter with pinks and blues. The top-right edge is almost completely black. Most of the stars spread across the view are bright blue and yellow. At right, text reads: Revealing Hidden Stars.
Westerlund 2: Star Clusters in a Star-Forming Region
Undulating clouds of colorful gas form a nebula that resembles butterfly wings. The two wing-shaped structures appear to be joined in the middle by a long, slender dark brown region that resembles the butterfly’s body. The gas plumes that make up the wings have a vibrant mix of white, pink, and purple. There are many stars that appear as small white dots. The background of space is black.
Dying Star Forms the Butterfly Nebula
Two views of the Pillars of Creation, a star-forming region in space. At left, Hubble’s visible-light view shows dark brown opaque pillars that rise from the bottom to the top, ending in three points. Hubble’s near-infrared image at right shows the same pillars in near-infrared light. They are semi-opaque, appearing almost black, and are traced by light semi-transparent blues. The background is filled with tiny stars.
Eagle Nebula: Star-Forming Region in Visible (left) and Near-Infrared Light (right)
The oval nebula’s complex structure lies against a black background. On the nebula’s exterior, particularly at the top left and bottom right, lie curtains of glowing red and orange fluffy material. Interior to this outer shell lie large-scale loops of mottled filaments of yellow-white and green, studded with clumps and knots. The central interior of the nebula glows brightly in blues.
Crab Nebula: Supernova Remnant
Bright gas in neon shades of yellow, green, blue, pink, and purple appears in waves across this portion of the Veil Nebula. The thickest areas of color appear in the right half, where the colorful gases appear intertwined in a diagonal column. Similar colorful gases appear as semi-translucent ribbons at left, like a fog dissipating. The background of space is black.
Veil Nebula: Supernova Remnant
The region is filled with wispy pink, brown, and red layers of gas and dust. The pink wisps appear in an arc from lower-left to top-center. Red opaque areas are toward the right and bottom. Small points of light are sprinkled across the field. The edges are mostly black.
Orion Nebula: Star-Forming Region
The view is divided horizontally by an undulating line between the bottom portion, which is a cloudscape primarily in shades of brown, and the top, which is shown in various, often hazy shades of blue. Speckled across both portions is a starfield, showing innumerable stars of many sizes, primarily in pink.
NGC 3324: Star-Forming Region in the Carina Nebula
The planet Jupiter on the left, with orange, red, and white bands of clouds. The Great Red Spot appears orange at bottom-center. It’s set against the black background of space. Text at right reads: Studying Our Solar System.
Jupiter
A view of Saturn captures exquisite details of the ring system, which looks like a white phonograph record with grooves that represent detailed structure within the rings. The planet is shown within the rings, in shades of light brown and yellow, with horizontal bands. It’s set against the black background of space.
Saturn
The planet Mars on a black background of space in a closeup, with the top and bottom cropped. Most of the planet is shades of orange. Darker surface features are noticeable on the lower half of the planet. Atmospheric dust gives the entire planet a fuzzy appearance. Bright blue clouds appear at bottom left and center-right.
Mars
The top half of the planet Jupiter, with orange, red, and white bands of clouds, is shown. At the top are bright blue circles at the pole, its aurorae. The planet is set against the black background of space.
Jupiter with Ultraviolet Aurora

Mission Resources

At left is the black background of space. Text at left reads: NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope Brings the Universe Home, Since 1990. At right the limb of Earth appears bright blue, crossing as an arc from bottom-center to top-right. The planet is blue, speckled with white clouds. Hubble, which looks like a silver cylinder with solar panels, appears at center in low-Earth orbit.

Take a Trip through the Universe with Hubble

With over 35 years of operation under its belt, Hubble has paved the way for new, innovative telescopes. NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, which began science operations in 2022, has already joined Hubble in contributing to our knowledge of the universe. Next, NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will join both, helping to further expand our horizons.

Learn About Other Missions