Arizona Museum of Natural History

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The exhibition explores the incredible new images and knowledge as a result of the Hubble Space Telescope.  The telescope helps us understand the deepest mysteries of the cosmos, such as how old is the universe?  How big is it?  Where do planets, stars and galaxies come from?

Model of the Hubble Space Telescope.

Hubble is 15.9 meters (43.5 feet) long, about the length of a school bus, and weighs 11,110 kilograms (24,500 lbs.), about as much as two elephants.

The Planets.  From left, Jupiter in visible light; Saturn in visible light; Uranus in near-infrared light; Neptune in false colors to capture its chemical composition.  Upper left: Mars in visible light.

Hubble Deep Field.  Is there an edge to the universe?  As far as we can tell, no.  The finite speed of light (186,282 miles per second) means that we can’t see anything farther than about 14 billion light years (how far light can travel in a year, about 6 trillion miles) away.  Light from anything beyond that has not had time to reach us.

Spiral Galaxy:  Stars, Gas & Dust 31 million light years away.

NGC 3602, a Planetary Nebula:  roiling cauldrons of gas more than 36,000 Fahrenheit traveling more than 600,000 miles per hour.

Mystic Mountain, pillar of cool hydrogen gas and dust three light years high in the Carina Nebula.  The brilliant light from nearby bright stars is eating away at the gas and dust, and infant stars within the column push it apart from within as they emit jets of gas.

Mission Invisible.  Compare your hand under visible and infrared light with images of the Orion Nebula.

Tools used to service Hubble.

Discover what’s new: Hubble and Beyond.