HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE

Image 1: Backdropped by the horizon of the blue and white Earth and the blackness of space, the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) floats gracefully after the release from Columbia’s robot arm at the close of a successful servicing mission. The event marks the fifth time in history that a Space Shuttle has released the great observatory. Those occasions were the initial release in 1990 and four subsequent servicing missions including STS-109. (2002) Image Credit: NASA More Information: Hubble home page Image 2: A collision of two galaxies has left a merged star system with an unusual appearance as well as bizarre internal motions. Messier 64 (M64) has a spectacular dark band of absorbing dust in front of the galaxy's bright nucleus, giving rise to its nicknames of the "Black Eye" or "Evil Eye" galaxy. (2004) Image Credit: NASA and The Hubble Heritage Team (AURA/STScI) More Information: Space Telescope Science Institute