| Watch this and other space videos at SpaceRip.com Here's Hubble's best year by year from HubbleCast 1990: Saturn Among the first images to be sent back from Hubble after its launch in April 1990, this image of Saturn is good by the standards of ground-based telescopes. 1991: Orion Nebula Although not perfectly sharp, this early image of the Orion Nebula nevertheless shows the rich colours and structures of this bright star-forming region. 1992: Herbig-Haro 2 Throughout the region of the Orion Nebula are numerous streamers of gas that come from newborn stars, known to astronomers as Herbig-Haro Objects. 1993: Messier 100 In late 1993, Hubble's teething problems were resolved in the first servicing mission. Before-and-after images of the core of spiral galaxy Messier 100 show how this dramatically improved the telescope's image quality. 1994: Shoemaker-Levy 9 hits Jupiter Soon after the astronauts repaired Hubble during the first servicing mission, comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 collided with Jupiter. 1995: Eagle Nebula Hubble's image of the 'pillars of creation' in the Eagle Nebula is one of its most famous. These huge, dusty structures enshroud pockets of ongoing star formation. 1996: NGC 6826 This image from 1996 shows a planetary nebula, which represents the other extremity of a star's life from the Eagle Nebula. Planetary nebulae form when Sun-like stars puff out their outer layers as they run low on fuel. 1997: Mars NASA's Mars Pathfinder probe was en route to Mars in 1997 ... |
