A butterfly-shaped nebula, as seen by Hubble. (AP Images)

The Hubble Space Telescope recently marked its 20th year of orbiting Earth, exploring space, and sending back amazing images and important information to help scientists learn more about the universe.

It took 10 years and the combined efforts of about 10,000 people to build the space telescope. Hubble was launched aboard the space shuttle Discovery on April 24, 1990. The next day, it was sent into orbit on its own, 353 miles above Earth’s surface.

Orbiting Earth more than 14 times every day, Hubble has viewed 30,000 objects in space and sent hundreds of thousands of images back to Earth. In the last year, Hubble has recorded images showing faraway galaxies, a densely packed star cluster, and a butterfly-shaped nebula. (A nebula is a large interstellar mix of dust and gas.) See images of and from the Hubble Space Telescope!

The information that Hubble sends to scientists has allowed them to see how stars and galaxies are formed, and how they die. Scientists have also been able to set the age of the universe at 13.7 billion years using data from Hubble. Without Hubble’s images, scientists would lack the evidence to back up many theories of space and our solar system.

In May 2009, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) scientists made their last mission to repair the telescope. They expect Hubble to keep working until about 2014, when the James Webb Space Telescope will be launched. NASA’s Ed Weiler reflected on Hubble: “It’s enabled ... our spirits to travel throughout the solar system.” But Hubble’s biggest legacy, he says, is “its ability to inspire ... kids to consider careers in engineering, science, and math.” Get inspired at www.hubblesite.org.
 

Want to see more of Hubble and the astronauts who have worked on the telescope? A new IMAX film, Hubble, brings you right into the action. More information: www.imax.com/hubble.

Photo: AP Images. Parts of this article originally appeared in Current Events, September 28, 2009. Copyright 2009, 2010, Weekly Reader Publishing.