Science Behind the Discoveries

Indulge your curiosity and dive into the fundamental science and astronomical concepts that form the foundation of Hubble’s observations.

Quick Facts

Hubble can see wavelengths of light ranging from the ultraviolet, through the visible, and into the near-infrared.

HST Electromagnetic Spectrum - horizontal

Hubble took the first ultraviolet image of an exoplanet, observing a still-forming, Jupiter-sized planet coalescing from material around a young star.

Blue background. Center of image is a disk blocking the light of a star. Below and just to the left of the disk, at about seven o'clock, is a bright white point. This is PDS 70b.

Hubble observed a single point in the sky for a million seconds to capture the Hubble Ultra Deep Field image.

a myriad of colorful galaxies, in all shapes, sizes, and forms, dot the image
Eagle Nebula showing visible and infrared views side by side.
These images of the Eagle Nebula demonstrate Hubble’s ability to capture stunning images in both visible (left) and infrared (right) light.
NASA

Fundamental Science

  • Glowing gold and orange peaks of gas with scattered pinkish stars against a dark blue and black background made hazy by more cosmic gas.

    In a Different Light

    Learn how Hubble uses different wavelengths of light to explore the universe.

  • Three absorption spectra: the Sun, a white dwarf, and a blue giant. The white dwarf spectra has wide dark absorption lines.

    Spectroscopy

    Studying light in detail allows astronomers to uncover the very nature of the objects that emit, absorb, or reflect light.

  • A collection of galaxies. On the right side a large spiral galaxy with swirling, twisted arms is flanked by a smaller, but still detailed, spiral behind its arm on the left, and a smaller spiral above it. On the left side is a fourth, round spiral galaxy seen face-on. Between them lies a single bright star. Several stars and distant galaxies dot the background.

    Time Travel: Observing Cosmic History

    Learn how Hubble can act as a time machine revealing distant cosmic objects as they appeared in the past.

Creating Hubble Images

Hubble's iconic images are more than pretty pictures. Discover how image processers use Hubble's data to create the gorgeous images we know and love.

Astronomical Concepts

  • A bright light at image center against a purple-black background. Ripples of gas radiate outward from the bright light. A disk of white light extends across the center of the image from left to right.

    Big Bang

    The big bang theory of the universe starts with a single point which rapidly expanded and slowly evolved into the cosmos we see today.

  • Glowing reddish-orange/yellow disk of material with dark black dusty lanes infalling into a hot, glowing-white center of material that shrouds the black hole

    Black Holes

    Hubble’s vision has brought these darkest of cosmic objects into the light.

  • Diagram illustrating the expansion of the universe which results in cosmological redshift, or light waves lengthening as they travel through space due to the expansion of the universe.

    Cosmological Redshift

    Light from galaxies stretches to increasingly longer, redder wavelengths as it travels through an ever-expanding universe.

  • A sparkling galaxy with a bright, glowing core and patchy spiral arms dotted with pale blue star formation.

    Dark Energy

    Our universe is speeding up, but no one knows why.

  • Cover image of the Hubble Focus: Dark Universe e-book. Black background with a galaxy cluster that is superimposed with a blue-white haze that indicates the location of dark matter. Top of the image holds the phrase, "Hubble Focus." The "o" in focus is Hubble as we look down the tube of the telescope.

    Dark Matter

    There’s enough matter in the universe to keep everything from flying apart ― but we can’t see it, and we don’t know exactly what it is.

  • A field filled with stars and galaxies against a black background. A small pinkish circle at image center denotes the host galaxy of a gamma-ray burst.

    Gamma-Ray Bursts

    These gigantic explosions were a relative mystery, until Hubble began observing their sources.

  • Two bright orange galaxies seem to form eyes, and streaks of curved, bent and magnified light form the circle of a face and a happy smile. A smaller bright galaxy serves as the nose in this smiley face. Other galaxies dot the picture.

    Gravitational Lenses

    Gravity can act like a lens, magnifying and distorting the light of distant objects that would otherwise be invisible.

  • Two black holes orbit each other against a purple-pink background. They create a spiral of yellow-orange gravity waves as move in their orbits.

    Gravitational Waves

    These waves in the fabric of space and time are the aftermath of an extreme astronomical event.

  • Orange, spiral debris disk swirls around a black hole. A jet of material blasts from the vicinity of the black hole.

    Quasars

    Hubble discovered that supermassive black holes lurk at the hearts of most galaxies. But not all black holes are equal.

This image shows the glow from a kilonova caused by the merger of two neutron stars.
Long ago and far across the universe, an enormous burst of gamma rays unleashed more energy in a half-second than the Sun will produce over its entire 10-billion-year lifetime. NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope set its eyes on the location to study the associated afterglow. Hubble detected near-infrared emission 10 times brighter than predicted.
NASA, ESA, W. Fong (Northwestern University), and T. Laskar (University of Bath, UK)

Hubble’s Universe

121 Images
A combintation of yellow, brown, red, and blue/violet colored gas intermixed with blue and yellow stars.
Arms swirl of new blue stars around a central region of older yellow stars in this galaxy image.
Bright blue aurora circle the top of Jupiter's north pole.
Thousands of galaxies float in a small section of space.
A colorful red, orange, and brown and dust cloud with a bright blue star cluster on the right side.
A swirling dense galaxy with thick dust clouds surrounds a central region of older yellow stars whose front half appears darker, resembling a black eye.
A cluster of yellow galaxies with hundreds of background galaxies. The image include arcs that are distorted images of background galaxies.
Two galaxies interacting that look like mice with tails.
A massive cluster of blue, red, yellow, and white stars.
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Keep Exploring

Discover More Topics From Hubble

Hubble vs. Webb

Left is the Hubble Space Telescope. Right is the James Webb Space Telescope. Title text is white and says, "Hubble vs. Webb". Background image is Hubble's view of Mystic Mountain, star-forming pillars and Herbig-Haro Objects with Jets in the vast Carina Nebula. The background image is faded and shaded light blue.

Missions to Hubble

Astronaut on an EVA in a white space suit waving while working on the Hubble space telescope.

Hubble Online Activities

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Hubble E-books

Resembling the shape of a butterfly, two lobes of gas and dust stretch across a starry black background in shades of green and blue, growing paler toward where they meet.