Announcements

24 April 2015: Today marks the 25th anniversary of Hubble’s launch and it is with great pleasure that we also celebrate your, the public's, contribution to this mission by announcing the winners of the Ode to Hubble competition today! Congratulations to Desiré de Palacio from Spain in the over 25s category for her stunning video Bariónica which, using photography, explores how Hubble has inspired her; combining images of the Universe with those of our own planet and the human form. In the 25 and under category our congratulations go to Halley Davies and Martin Hellmich from Canada whose animated video Hubble’s Universe takes us on a journey through history and shows what Hubble has taught us about the Universe. These winners will receive a real section of Hubble’s solar array mounted in perspex. These little pieces of Hubble are part of the huge solar arrays that spent 3 years orbiting the Earth, giving …

23 April 2015: After a quarter of a century in space, Hubble has captured a dramatic new cosmic landscape to take centre stage as the 25th anniversary image. This Hubblecast browses the history of Hubble’s anniversary images and explores the newest addition: the star cluster Westerlund 2. This year, museums, science centres, planetariums and other science institutes across Europe have unveiled images and taken part in other events celebrating the 25th anniversary. You can subscribe to the Hubblecasts in iTunes, receive future episodes on YouTube or follow us on Vimeo. Many other Hubblecast episodes are also available. Find out how to view and contribute subtitles for the Hubblecast in multiple languages, or translate this video on dotSUB. Credit: Directed by: Georgia Bladon Visual design and editing: Martin Kornmesser Written by: Georgia Bladon and Nicky Guttridge Narration: Dr Joe Liske Images: NASA, ESA/Hubble, the Hubble Heritage Team, A. Nota (ESA/STScI), the Westerlund 2 Science …

17 April 2015: Following weeks of development, Hubble has a new design for its website and a wealth of new resources available for the 25th anniversary celebrations. There are extra resources available to help press and public alike in their celebration of the anniversary. This includes a detailed press pack full of information about Hubble, including information on the history of Hubble, Hubble’s greatest discoveries, a short fact sheet and a biography of Edwin P. Hubble. This is available in both English and Spanish. Also on the resources page are two sets of slides on Hubble, its history and its future which can be used for talks and presentations. New fulldome clips are also appearing every month for use by planetariums worldwide. The main motivation for the changes to the website's design was to give the site a more user-friendly interface and to make it more responsive on mobile platforms. The new design …

9 April 2015: Many thanks to everyone who entered the Ode to Hubble competition. We were absolutely taken aback by the work and creativity that was put into the entries. The public voting has now come to an end and we can now reveal the shortlist of six videos in each of the two categories! Congratulations to Simon Vandevelde, Halley Davies, Hui Tung Liu, Jacinto Manuel Escaray, Krishna Santos and Alexandra Greenbaum in the under 25s category! And to Laura Austin, Andres Eloy Martinez Rojas, Desiré de Palacio, Philip Stark, the joint efforts of Mattia Di Miscia and Paola Paladini, and the team comprising Vicent J. Martínez, Javier Diez, Alberto Fernández-Soto, Fernando Ballesteros, Amelia Ortiz-Gil in the over 25s category! To watch the shortlisted entries visit the Ode to Hubble webpage. The shortlist will be considered by our judging panel and the two final winners will be announced on the 24 April 2015. …

1 April 2015: In January this year ESA/Hubble made a call for proposals to informal education venues across Europe to apply for a large-scale print of the Hubble 25th anniversary image. We have now combed through the applications and selected over sixty venues whose proposals for an unveiling event and supporting activities were of the highest standards. The events will, by and large, take place on 23 April 2015 from 15:00 onwards, which is when Hubble’s 25th anniversary image will be published. If you are a media representative and would like to find out more about the events taking place near you and when they will take place you can find a full list on our website. The countries where unveilings will take place are: Austria Belgium Bulgaria Czech Republic Denmark Estonia Finland France Germany Greece Hungary Iceland Ireland Italy Lithuania Luxembourg Netherlands Norway Poland Portugal Romania Slovenia Spain Sweden Switzerland Slovakia Turkey …

26 March 2015: ESA/Hubble offers almost 4000 image and over 1000 videos for the use of the media, researchers and the public. All of ESA/Hubble’s images and videos are provided free of charge, and most of our internet traffic results from the distribution of videos — everything from video podcasts to large ultra HD and planetarium fulldome videos. Some of the bigger files are a few gigabytes in size, and can be hundreds of gigabytes for fulldome planetarium clips. Up to now ESA/Hubble has only had one server location — at the European Southern Observatory’s Headquarters in Germany — from where it distributed all content across the globe. However, with a large amount of ESA/Hubble’s public traffic originating from outside Europe, the disadvantage in terms of speed and the ease with which these users could access ESA/Hubble content has been a concern for more than a decade. The delivery of huge files across …

19 March 2015: As Hubble enters its 25th year in orbit, with celebrations planned around the world for its anniversary on 24 April 2015, this Hubblecast celebrates the relationship that the telescope will have with its future colleague, the James Webb Space Telescope. You can subscribe to the Hubblecasts in iTunes, receive future episodes on YouTube or follow us on Vimeo. Many other Hubblecast episodes are also available. Find out how to view and contribute subtitles for the Hubblecast in multiple languages, or translate this video on dotSUB. Credit: Directed by: Georgia Bladon Visual design and editing: Martin Kornmesser Written by: Georgia Bladon and Nicky Guttridge Narration: Sara Mendes da Costa Images: NASA, ESA/Hubble and the Hubble Heritage Team, J. Hester and P. Scowen (Arizona State University), ESO, Digitized Sky Survey 2, M. McCaughrean & M. Andersen (AIP) Videos: NASA, ESA/Hubble Animations: Martin Kornmesser, Luis Calcada, NASA, ESA/Hubble Music: Johan B. Monell (www.johanmonell.com) …

13 March 2015: The short video competition in celebration of Hubble’s 25th year in orbit has come to an end. Many thanks to all those who sent in their videos. Now, everyone has the chance to help us select a shortlist. So, take some time to watch a few videos — all of which are under three minutes long — and see how people have been inspired by Hubble. You can view and vote for the entries that you think deserve to win by visiting the competition voting pages. Visit one or both of the competition categories — 25 and under and over 25s — and have your say on the videos that will help us celebrate 25 years of Hubble. You will need a Facebook account to vote and to be signed into Facebook on your computer at the time of voting. You vote for the entries you like by “liking them” …

24 February 2015: ESA/Hubble is releasing a series of stunning fulldome clips, freely available to planetariums across the globe as part of the 25th anniversary celebrations. The clips are in 4k and 8k fulldome format and rendered for uni-directional domes. Today the first four clips have been released and can be downloaded from the website. Another clip will be released on the 24th of each month until the end of the year, so don’t forget to keep checking. The clips released today are: A zoom into Hubble’s iconic view of RS Puppis. An artist’s impression of Hubble rising over the Earth. An exploration of the huge galaxy cluster Abell 2218. A pan of the famous Carina Nebula, or “Mystic Mountain”. If you don't want to miss any of our fulldome videos, we recommend that you subscribe to our fulldome RSS feeds: http://www.spacetelescope.org/videos/feed/category/fulldome/ http://www.eso.org/public/videos/feed/category/fulldome/

6 February 2015: The ESA Hubble Space Telescope Twitter account recently welcomed its 100 000th follower. Our Twitter feed brings Hubble Space Telescope fans the latest news from ESA, as NASA’s partner in this international project. A huge thanks to all our followers for their continued curiosity and support, which helps us to reach more people than ever before. Each of ESA/Hubble’s followers is an ambassador, spreading awareness of the wonders of the Universe and all the work Hubble and its team are doing to further our understanding of it. We are all very grateful for your ongoing support. Thank you for being Hubble’s friends and we hope to see many more of you joining our community!

2 February 2015: What does Hubble mean to you? For society? How has it inspired you? The ESA/Hubble Ode to Hubble competition lets anyone inspired by Hubble express their feelings or share their ideas in a creative and innovative way. It is your chance to join us in celebrating the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope’s 25th anniversary! As long as it can be uploaded as a YouTube, Vine and Instagram video less than three minutes long you can submit anything. Pan over a drawing, scroll over a poem or text, film your own Hubblecast, film yourself performing or talking about a Hubble topic, create an animation or compose a piece of music and upload it as a video piece. Just make it innovative, creative and, most of all, inspired by Hubble, or one of its great discoveries or images. There are two categories for the competition, one for under 25s — born in Hubble’s …

27 January 2015: The January 2015 issue of the ESA/Hubble Science Newsletter is now available. It comes only a few short weeks after the last edition to bring to attention two Calls for Proposals. Both offer exciting opportunities for scientists to be a part of the Hubble mission through to the 2020s and we at ESA/Hubble look forward to seeing how the scientific community will contribute to Hubble’s remaining years and the legacy it leaves behind. The ESA/Hubble Science Newsletter promotes technical and operational news for the Hubble Space Telescope to European users and the scientific community. It is also intended to create a communication channel between the European Hubble user community, and the staff scientists at ESA who support Hubble science operations. You can subscribe to the ESA/Hubble Science Newsletter here, or get in touch at hubblenewseurope@stsci.edu. If you are a media representative we recommend subscribing to the ESA/Hubble Media Newsletter, a weekly embargoed newsletter sent …

26 January 2015: To celebrate the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope’s 25 years in orbit, ESA/Hubble is offering free large-format high-quality prints of Hubble’s stunning anniversary image. The anniversary image is expected to be revealed to the public on the 23 April 2015 (soon to be confirmed) and we would like to see informal learning centres across Europe organising their own events to celebrate Hubble’s 25th birthday using the image as a centrepiece. We invite all European-based science centres, museums, planetariums, nature centres and other informal education venues to apply to receive one of these roughly 3 metre by 3 metre prints. Selected institutions will not only receive the Hubble anniversary image free of charge, but also press and VIP material for the unveiling event, and promotion of their event on the spacetelescope.org website and via social media. To apply you must arrange an event for the anniversary and submit a proposal telling us about …

15 January 2015: On 24 April 2015 the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope will celebrate 25 years since its launch and new web pages on the ESA/Hubble website let you know how you can get involved. During the 1970s, NASA and ESA began planning for a space telescope that could transcend the blurring effects of the atmosphere and take clearer images of the Universe than ever before. In 1990 the idea finally became a reality. For almost 25 years Hubble has delved deeper into the early years of the Universe than was ever thought possible, played a critical part in the discovery that the expansion of the Universe is accelerating and probed the atmospheres of planets around distant stars. To commemorate this quarter century of success in engineering and science and as a cultural icon, ESA/Hubble will run a series of projects to involve the public, planetariums and informal learning centres in the celebrations. …

5 January 2015: The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has revisited one of its most iconic and popular images: the Eagle Nebula’s Pillars of Creation. This time Hubble has not just one image for us, but two: as well as the new visible-light image the telescope used infrared light to produce a second breathtaking picture of the region. Between them these images show the pillars in more detail than ever before. In this Hubblecast we explore the different ways in which Hubble, and other telescopes, have captured this iconic object. Find out how to view and contribute subtitles for the Hubblecast in multiple languages, or translate this video on dotSUB. Credit: Directed by: Georgia Bladon Visual design and editing: Martin Kornmesser Written by: Georgia Bladon and Nicky Guttridge Narration: Sara Mendes da Costa Images: NASA, ESA/Hubble and the Hubble Heritage Team, J. Hester and P. Scowen (Arizona State University), ESO, Digitized Sky Survey 2, …

10 December 2014: Hubble has achieved an extraordinary amount in its lifetime and 2015 will mark 25 years since its launch. The year 2015 will be filled with Hubble-related activities for you to enjoy and, most importantly, get involved with. In this Hubblecast we look back at some of the ways in which you have shown your appreciation for Hubble in the past and let you in on what the Hubble 25 celebrations have to offer. Now is the time to show once more what Hubble means to you. Find out how to view and contribute subtitles for the Hubblecast in multiple languages, or translate this video on dotSUB. More information on the 25th anniversary can be found on the dedicated web pages.

4 December 2014: The 16th issue of Communicating Astronomy with the Public journal is out now!  In this issue you will find articles discussing the value of science communication training for scientists, the best practices when looking for crowdfunding, the process of capturing the night sky in Ultra HD and the logic, or lack thereof, behind stripping astronomy engagement of its maths. Plus, a column article describes the process behind writing a book that explains the physics of the Universe using only the most common thousand words in the English language. There is all this, and more, in this free, peer-reviewed journal for astronomy communicators — now available for download.

3 December 2014: The December 2014 issue of the ESA/Hubble Science Newsletter is now available. It outlines the plans that have been put in place to celebrate Hubble’s 25th anniversary in 2015, thanks the individuals who work with Hubble for helping us celebrate 1 million friends on Facebook and gives more information on the content of the Hubble 2020 symposium, to be held in April 2015, and what inspired it. The ESA/Hubble Science Newsletter promotes technical and operational news for the Hubble Space Telescope to European users and the scientific community. Released quarterly, this newsletter contains information about the scientific activities taking place with Hubble, calls for proposals, news on observing and programmatic developments, upcoming conferences, and other updates. This newsletter augments the information presented in public scientific press releases and announcements. It is also intended to create a communication channel between the European Hubble user community, and the staff scientists at ESA …

20 November 2014: New observations of four globular clusters in the Fornax dwarf galaxy have called into question one of the leading theories about how these clusters form. In this episode we explain the mystery behind these objects and how it is deepened by these new findings. Find out how to view and contribute subtitles for the Hubblecast in multiple languages, or translate this video on dotSUB. Credit: Directed by: Georgia Bladon Visual design and editing: Martin Kornmesser Written by: Georgia Bladon and Nicky Guttridge Narration: Sara Mendes da Costa Images: NASA, ESA/Hubble Videos: NASA, ESA/Hubble Animations: Martin Kornmesser, Luis Calcada, NASA, ESA/Hubble Music: Jennifer Athena Galatis Web and technical support: Mathias Andre and Raquel Yumi Shida Executive producer: Lars Lindberg Christensen

13 November 2014: This summer we asked the public to send us their Hubble- and astronomy-related questions, and the response was incredible! In this episode Dr J answers a selection of the questions that were about science related to Hubble. These questions range from what Hubble has achieved within the Solar System, to the science it has uncovered at the very edge of the observable Universe. In this episode Dr J explains some of the key concepts, and biggest misconceptions, about the Universe we live in. Credit: Directed by: Georgia Bladon Visual design and editing: Martin Kornmesser Written by: Georgia Bladon and Victoria Weller Von Ahlefeld Narration: Sara Mendes da Costa Images: NASA, ESA/Hubble Videos: NASA, ESA/Hubble Animations: Martin Kornmesser, Luis Calcada, Lorenzo Benassi, NASA, ESA/Hubble Visible Universe animation: http://www.worldwidetelescope.org/ Music: Johan B. Monell, movetwo, Hemeleen Web and technical support: Mathias Andre and Raquel Yumi Shida Executive producer: Lars Lindberg Christensen