Introduction to the Hubble Space Telescope
HST is a space-based great observatory that observes at ultraviolet through near infrared wavelengths. High resolution imaging and wide-ranging spectroscopic capabilities enable forefront research across all domains of astrophysics. Time on HST is awarded through an open peer-reviewed competition.
The Hubble Space Telescope's launch in 1990 sped humanity to one of its greatest advances in that journey. Hubble is a telescope that orbits Earth. Its position above the atmosphere gives it a view of the universe that typically far surpasses that of ground-based telescopes.
Thirty-three years since launch, the Hubble Space Telescope continues its role at the forefront of astronomy, ranging from our own Solar System to the high-redshift universe.
Through the middle of the next decade, HST will remain the only space-based telescope providing spectroscopy and high-resolution imaging at UV, optical, and near-infrared wavelengths. With the launch of JWST in 2021, the bold science questions pursued with HST will be bolstered by the complementary capabilities of the two observatories.
Using the Hubble Telescope
Observatory News
Resources
Press Releases
View All HST Press Releases on Hubblesite.org
Upcoming STScI Events
-
How Do New Protein Structures Emerge?
The advent of the Artificial Intelligence era has granted us unprecedented access to protein structural data. How did nature discover folded proteins more than 3 billion years ago?...
-
Celebrating NASA’s 40-Year Legacy of Infrared Astronomy from Space
Speakers: Robert Hurt (Caltech/IPAC) Since July 2022, the world has been amazed by the incredible fidelity of the Webb Space Telescope's infrared view of the universe. Yet...
-
On Galaxies Circumgalactic Media and Outflows
The gas reservoir around galaxies plays a fundamental, while still poorly understood, role in regulating the growth of galaxies, in establishing the scaling relation we observe among...