If in recent years you have seen a spectacular photo of Space, that photo was probably taken by Hubble, the most famous space telescope there is. Launched from Cape Canaveral on April 24, 1990 with the space shuttle Discovery, it was released into orbit, 547 kilometers from Earth, the following day and is still in operation (and according to some estimates it could operate until 2040).
It is an example of technological longevity as there are few (although in these 32 years there have been several problems, which required the intervention of astronauts to solve them). Last summer, when it started working again after a month’s hiatus for one of these glitches, it was said that “up to then he had recorded one and a half million observations of the universe allowing the publication of over 18 thousand scientific researches and contributing to some of the most significant discoveries such as the accelerated expansion of the universe, the evolution of galaxies over time and the first atmospheric studies on the planet outside our solar system ” (here a complete review).
Il project is of American NASA (video)to which the Suropean Space Agency (ESA) contributed: it takes its name from Edwin Powell Hubblean American astrophysicist who disappeared in 1953.
A few days ago on the official website it was announced that for his 32nd birthday Hubble had given himself another discovery: a grouping of eclectic galaxies, or 5 galaxies filmed in a gravitational dance.