Hubble's

Hubble's never-ending, breathtaking celestial snapshots provide a visual shorthand for Hubble's top scientific achievements.

Hubble's spectacular images have captured the imagination for decades, and will continue to inspire humanity for years to come.

Hubble's top accomplishments include measuring the expansion and acceleration rate of the universe; finding that black holes are common among galaxies; characterizing the atmospheres of planets around other stars; monitoring weather changes on planets across our solar system; and looking back in time across 97% of the universe to chronicle the birth and evolution of stars and galaxies.

Hubble's top accomplishments include measuring the expansion and acceleration rate of the universe.

Hubble's longevity can be attributed to five space shuttle servicing missions, from 1993 to 2009, in which astronauts upgraded the telescope with advanced instruments, new electronics and on-orbit repairs.

The science data formatter, as it's called, has a number of housekeeping functions, including preparing data collected by Hubble's instruments for transmission down to Earth.