What Educational Resources Does ESA/Hubble Offer?

ESA/Hubble provides free educational materials through esahubble.org, including downloadable teaching resources, the FITS Liberator image-processing software with step-by-step guides, and exhibition packages for public outreach. These resources suit educators, students, and informal science communicators who want to work with real Hubble data or run astronomy events. Most materials are organized under the site's Resources and Initiatives sections, and the site also offers newsletters for staying informed about new releases.

Teaching and classroom materials

The site groups several resources that work directly in educational settings:

• Educational Material — a dedicated section for classroom-ready content.
• Word Bank — terminology support for explaining astronomical concepts.
• Calendars — annual calendars spanning 2004 through 2026, usable as handouts or wall displays.
• Posters — printable visual materials for classrooms and events.
• Hubble Anniversary Book — a reference publication tied to Hubble milestones.

These are the most straightforward starting points if you need something to hand out or display rather than something to run on a computer.

Working with real Hubble data: FITS Liberator

For teaching or self-study in image processing, ESA/Hubble offers FITS Liberator, software for converting professional FITS astronomical data into formats usable in standard image editors. The supporting materials include:

• A Download page and a User Guide (PDF).
• An image processing introduction and a step-by-step guide to making your own images.
• FITS for education, plus example data sets and links to archives.
• A User's Gallery, known issues and FAQ, and download past versions.

The workflow is: download FITS Liberator, follow the step-by-step guide, open one of the provided example data sets, and process it into a finished color image. The expected result is a publishable or classroom-displayable image built from actual Hubble observations. The most common sticking point is the FITS format itself — it is not a standard photo format, which is exactly why the conversion step and the example data sets exist.

Exhibitions, events, and planetarium packages

For public outreach rather than classroom teaching, the site provides:

• Our Place in Space — an exhibition initiative.
• OPiS room description and Applications — materials for setting up an exhibition space.
• Exhibitions and Events and Exhibitions listings.
• Planetarium Show Package and Fulldome Clips — content for dome projection.
• Hubble Day Events and Image Unveilings Across Europe — event formats you can adapt.
• Soundtrack — audio to accompany presentations.

These are aimed at museums, planetariums, and organizers running public astronomy events. Note that some packages (for example the planetarium and fulldome materials) are built for specific projection or venue setups, so check the format before planning around them.

Images and videos as teaching assets

The Images and Videos sections function as a media library for lessons and presentations:

• Images are browsable by category — nebulae, galaxies, exoplanets, solar system, star clusters, cosmology, quasars and black holes, and more — and by collection such as Top 100, Picture of the Month, and Picture of the Week.
• Videos include Hubblecast, Space Sparks, Eyes on the Skies, 3D animations, and fulldome content.
• Both sections have Advanced Search and a Usage of Images and Videos page, which you should read before republishing anything in a lesson or public material.

The Top 100 collection is also offered as bulk downloads in large and original size (ZIP files), which is convenient if you need a set of high-resolution images offline.

Staying current

ESA/Hubble publishes two newsletters: ESA/Hubble News and the ESA/Hubble/Webb Science Newsletter, both reachable from the site's Subscribe pages. These are useful for educators who want new images, announcements, and releases as they appear rather than searching the archive manually.

Choosing the right resource

All of these are hosted on esahubble.org and are organized so that you can move from a general category to a specific downloadable file. Before using any image or video in published teaching material, confirm the terms on the Usage of Images and Videos page.