NASA's pioneering Hubble Space Telescope (HST) has been in operation for more than 30 years, providing us with countless mesmerizing views of the cosmos. And using a special tool, you can find out the image the space observatory took on your birthday.
The telescope makes observations of the universe all day, every day—meaning that it has captured fascinating images on every date of the year, including everyone's birthday.
To find out what Hubble observed on your birthday, visit this the "What Did Hubble See on Your Birthday?" page on the NASA website. You can then select the month and date that you were born and the tool will provide an image taken on that date along with some information about it.
NASA stands for National Aeronautics and Space Administration—a U.S. government agency set up in 1958 that's responsible for research in the fields of space and aeronautics (science related to the operation of aircraft.)
NASA succeeded the the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, or NACA, which had been set up to conduct aeronautics research. The establishment of NASA was largely a response to early Soviet space achievements, such as the launch of Sputnik 1 on October 4, 1957—the Earth's first artificial satellite.
Hubble was developed in collaboration with the European Space Agency (ESA,) while its targets are selected by The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, Maryland, where the data the observatory collects is also processed. Meanwhile, the spacecraft itself is controlled by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
What Did Hubble Image on These Famous Birthdays?
- Brad Pitt (December 18) - On December 18, 1995 Hubble captured its iconic "Deep Field" image that shows countless galaxies—some of which are very far away and had never been seen before.
- Ariana Grande (June 26) - On June 26 in 2000, Hubble snapped an image called "Seyfert's Sextet," which shows an unusual collection of galaxies.
- Barack Obama (August 4) - On August 4 in 2001, the observatory captured a partially newborn star shooting out twin jets of material—an object called Herbig-Haro 24.
- Oprah Winfrey (January 29) - On January 29 in 1999, Hubble took a spectacular image of Galaxy NGC 2787, which is located around 24 million light-years from Earth.
- Bill Gates (October 28) - On October 28, Hubble captured a giant dust storm on Mars measuring around 930 miles across.
Hubble Scientists Choose Their Favorite Images for Newsweek
Tom Brown, Mission Head of the Hubble Space Telescope - Tadpole Galaxy
"In April 2002, Hubble captured an image of the Tadpole Galaxy using the Advanced Camera for Surveys, about a month after this camera was installed by astronauts. The image is iconic because of the contrast between the unique foreground galaxy and the numerous background galaxies. With the installation of this powerful camera, it became routine to capture the distant universe in most Hubble images, regardless of where on the sky Hubble was pointed."
Jim Jeletic, Hubble's deputy project manager - V838 Monocerotis
"My favorite Hubble images are of the light echo V838 Monocerotis. It's an illusion. It appears as if the cloud of gas and dust around the star is growing. But it is not. It is all there at the same time, puffed off by the central star possibly hundreds or even millions of years ago. We often forget that it takes time for light to travel the vast distances of space. In this case, the central star pulsed, or flashed. The parts of the cloud near the star were illuminated soon after and the light then bounced back to the Hubble Space Telescope's cameras."
"The cloud is so immense that it took light another four months to travel to the middle of cloud, illuminate it, and then bounce back to the cameras. And it took another three months for the light to reach the outer parts of the cloud, light them up, and then bounce back to the cameras."
Kenneth Carpenter, a Hubble Operations Project Scientist - Carina Nebula
"My favorite and iconic Hubble Image is one released on Hubble's 17th Anniversary in 2007, a huge mosaic of the central section of the Carina Nebula, one of the largest panoramic images ever taken by Hubble. It shows an incredibly detailed view about 50 light-years across, including regions showcasing both the birth and death of stars. This area is so rich that the mosaic contains several objects that are the subject of iconic Hubble images of their own, such as the pre-supernova Eta Carinae (left center,) a dying star shooting out globes and jets of gas into interstellar space, and Mystic Mountain (right center)—a site of intense star formation."
Chris Evans, Hubble and James Webb Telescope Project Scientist - Tarantula Nebula
"This spectacular mosaic is of the Tarantula Nebula, the largest stellar nursery in the nearby Universe. It is located in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a dwarf galaxy outside of our Milky Way, at a distance of 160,000 light years. The Tarantula region is a fantastic laboratory for astronomers to study how stars are born, how they evolve, and how they end their lives. At its heart is a dense cluster called R136, which contains the most massive stars known to date, that weigh more than 100 times the mass of the sun."
"In the glowing filaments of gas and dust extending from the center (the legs of the Tarantula) we can see the cocoons of new stars being formed, and further out we find a zoo of hot, massive stars that trace different stages of stellar evolution. These include the most rapidly spinning stars known, where their equators are moving at more than one million miles per hour, and massive 'runaway' stars that have been kicked-out of the central cluster."
Uncommon Knowledge
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About the writer
Aristos is a Newsweek science reporter with the London, U.K., bureau. He reports on science and health topics, including; animal, ... Read more
