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What is ESA/Hubble?
ESA/Hubble is the European Space Agency's public-facing website for the Hubble Space Telescope, covering mission news, images, videos, educational material and image-processing tools.
What you'll find
- News and announcements — press releases and updates organised by year, going back to the late 1990s.
- Images and videos — a large gallery with categories such as galaxies, nebulae, exoplanets, cosmology, the Solar System and spacecraft. Curated picks include Picture of the Week and Picture of the Month, plus "Top 100" collections available as large ZIP downloads.
- Initiatives and anniversaries — Hubble anniversary material, fulldome clips, exhibitions and art/science projects.
- Resources and education — educational material, a planetarium show package, and a soundtrack.
- FITS Liberator — software for processing astronomical FITS data, with a user guide, example data sets and a gallery of user-made images.
- Mission background — fact sheets, instrument pages (WFC3, ACS, COS, STIS, NICMOS and others) and information on operations such as solar panels and gyroscopes.
Who it suits
| Audience | Most useful part |
|---|---|
| Curious general readers | News, Picture of the Week, image galleries |
| Teachers and students | Educational material, fact sheets, image-processing introduction |
| Amateur image processors | FITS Liberator, example data sets, user gallery |
| Media and outreach staff | Press releases, high-resolution downloads, usage guidance |
Practical notes
- Images and videos have a dedicated "usage" page, so check terms before republishing.
- The Top 100 downloads are large (roughly 1.2 GB and 4.7 GB), so plan for the download time.
- You can follow updates via the ESA/Hubble news newsletter or the ESA/Hubble/Webb science newsletter.
A good next step: if you want a quick sense of Hubble's output, start with Picture of the Week; if you want to work with the data yourself, go to FITS Liberator and its example data sets. For official mission context, see ESA/Hubble and NASA.
How can I use ESA/Hubble images and videos in my project?
ESA/Hubble is the European Space Agency's public site for Hubble Space Telescope imagery, video and news, and it is built for reuse: images and videos are organised by category, with a dedicated "Usage of Images and Videos" page stating the terms. For most non-commercial projects — classroom material, a talk, a planetarium clip, a blog post — you can use the material freely as long as you credit the source properly. For commercial use, check that usage page first, since conditions differ.
ESA/Hubble
Practical ways to use the material
- Presentations and teaching: download stills from the Images section, or the Top 100 collection if you want the most iconic shots. The Top 100 is offered as a large ZIP bundle, which is convenient when you need many images at once.
- Video and planetarium: the Videos section includes Hubblecast episodes, 3D animations and fulldome clips, so you can drop ready-made sequences into a show rather than animating from scratch.
- Print and posters: high-resolution originals are available for many images, which matters if you are printing large. Check the file size before committing to a print run.
- Processing your own versions: if you want to make colour composites, the FITS Liberator tool and the example data sets are aimed exactly at that, with a step-by-step guide and a user gallery for reference.
How to credit correctly
Credit the specific institution and individuals named with each image or video, not just "ESA/Hubble" — the credit line usually lists the telescope, instrument and processing contributors. If you modify an image, say so; do not present a recoloured composite as the original observation.
Choosing the right file
| Need | Where to look | Trade-off |
|---|---|---|
| Quick illustration | Picture of the Week / Images | Attractive but may be lower resolution |
| Large print | Top 100 large or original size | Big downloads (the original bundle is several GB) |
| Motion content | Videos / Hubblecast | Fixed edit, less flexible than raw frames |
| Your own composite | FITS Liberator + example data | More work, but full control over colour |
Next step: open the "Usage of Images and Videos" page, note the credit requirement, then pick your files from the Images or Videos sections. If you are unsure whether your project counts as commercial, treat it as commercial and verify before publishing.
What are the latest news and discoveries from the Hubble Space Telescope?
For current Hubble news and discoveries, go straight to the news and press-release sections of ESA/Hubble. That is where new results are announced and archived, and it is the fastest route to the latest findings rather than a summary that may already be out of date.
What you will find there
- Press releases — formal announcements of new science results, often tied to a published paper, with images and descriptions of what was observed.
- Announcements — shorter notices about mission status, instrument updates, observing milestones and events.
- Picture of the Week / Picture of the Month — a single striking image with a short explanation, useful if you want to see discoveries visually rather than read about them.
- Images and videos — full-resolution stills, 3D animations, fulldome clips and Hubblecast episodes, with categories covering nebulae, galaxies, exoplanets, the Solar System, quasars and black holes.
How to use it depending on what you need
| If you are… | Start with | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Curious about the newest result | Press releases | Written for a general audience, dated, and image-led |
| A teacher or student | Images, videos and educational material | Ready-made visuals you can reuse in class |
| A researcher or journalist | Press releases plus the linked papers | The announcement gives context; the paper gives the detail |
| Someone building a talk or poster | Picture of the Week and the image archive | Consistent, high-quality material with usage guidance |
A practical next step
Subscribe to one of the site's newsletters so new results reach you instead of you checking back. ESA/Hubble offers a general Hubble news subscription and a separate ESA/Hubble/Webb science newsletter aimed at a more technical audience — pick the one that matches your level of interest.
One caution: a press release describes a single study, and its framing can be more confident than the underlying paper. If a headline claims something surprising, read the release's own description of the observation and, where linked, the research it is based on before repeating the claim.
How can I subscribe to Hubble newsletters and updates?
You can subscribe to Hubble news and science updates directly through the ESA/Hubble website. The site offers two separate newsletters: one for general Hubble news and one for combined ESA/Hubble/Webb science announcements. Both are free email subscriptions — no account or payment is involved.
Which newsletter fits your needs
| Newsletter | Best for | What you likely get |
|---|---|---|
| Hubble News | General readers, educators, museum staff, hobbyists | Press releases, announcements, Picture of the Week highlights |
| ESA/Hubble/Webb Science Newsletter | Researchers, graduate students, science communicators | Science announcements and professional updates across Hubble and Webb |
If you mainly want stunning images and plain-language discoveries, the general Hubble News list is the simpler choice. If you follow instrument results, mission announcements or call for proposals, the science newsletter is more relevant. Subscribing to both is reasonable if you want the full picture.
How to subscribe
- Go to the ESA/Hubble subscribe page at ESA/Hubble.
- Choose the general Hubble News option or the ESA/Hubble/Webb Science Newsletter option.
- Enter your email address and confirm.
- Check your spam folder if the confirmation message does not arrive.
If you prefer not to get email
You do not need a newsletter to keep up with Hubble. The same site publishes press releases, announcements and a weekly image feature you can browse at any time. For a broader European space-science view, the European Space Agency's main portal at ESA and the NASA Hubble page at HubbleSite are useful complements.
A practical next step: subscribe to the general list first, read a few issues, then add the science newsletter only if you find yourself wanting more technical detail. That keeps your inbox manageable while still covering the Hubble stories you care about.
What educational resources does ESA/Hubble offer for teachers and students?
ESA/Hubble offers a range of free educational material aimed at classrooms, informal learning and anyone teaching themselves astronomy. The strongest fit is for teachers who want ready-made visuals and context, and for students doing projects on galaxies, nebulae, exoplanets or the Solar System.
What you can actually use
- Images and videos — a large library organised by topic (nebulae, galaxies, cosmology, exoplanets, spacecraft) and by format, including downloadable high-resolution files and a "Top 100" collection. The site also states usage terms for images and videos, so check those before republishing in slides or handouts.
- Educational material — a dedicated section under Resources, intended as teaching support rather than research documentation.
- FITS Liberator — software for turning raw astronomical data into images, with a user guide, an image-processing introduction, example data sets, links to archives and a FAQ. This is the most hands-on item: students can process real telescope data rather than only look at finished pictures.
- Word Bank — a glossary-style resource useful for explaining terminology in plain language.
- Calendars and posters — printable material for classroom walls or science events, including anniversary and exhibition resources.
- Planetarium show package and fulldome clips — relevant if you run a dome, a science centre or a large projection setup.
- Newsletters — Hubble news and a science newsletter, useful for keeping a class or club current.
Choosing between the options
| If you want to… | Start with |
|---|---|
| Illustrate a lesson quickly | Image and video categories, Picture of the Week |
| Teach how astronomical images are made | FITS Liberator, example data sets, image-processing introduction |
| Explain vocabulary | Word Bank |
| Run an event or open day | Posters, calendars, exhibitions material |
| Equip a planetarium | Fulldome clips, planetarium show package |
A practical next step
Pick one topic your class is already studying, download two or three images from that category, and pair them with the Word Bank entries for the objects shown. If you have older students and a few lessons to spare, the FITS Liberator route is the more rewarding option: they work with the same kind of data researchers use and see how a colour image is assembled. For a quick sense of what is new, the news and Picture of the Week pages are updated regularly, and the newsletters deliver that to your inbox.
The main trade-off is depth versus time: the galleries are immediate but passive, while the data-processing material needs setup and guidance. For official Hubble coverage beyond the European site, NASA also publishes Hubble material.
What are the instruments on the Hubble Space Telescope and what do they do?
Hubble's instruments divide into two working groups: cameras that take pictures, and spectrographs that split light into wavelengths to reveal what objects are made of and how they move. On the ESA/Hubble site, the instrument pages sit under About → Instruments, alongside a general fact sheet.
Cameras (imaging)
- WFC3 (Wide Field Camera 3) — Hubble's workhorse camera, covering both ultraviolet/visible and near-infrared light. Most of the familiar deep-field and galaxy images come from it.
- ACS (Advanced Camera for Surveys) — a wide-field visible-light camera used for large surveys, galaxy clusters and deep imaging.
- WFPC2 (Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2) — the camera behind many iconic 1990s–2000s images, including the Hubble Deep Field; no longer operating.
- NICMOS (Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer) — infrared imaging and spectroscopy, mainly for dust-shrouded and very distant objects; no longer operating.
- FOC (Faint Object Camera) and WFPC1 — early first-generation imagers, retired.
Spectrographs (breaking light apart)
- STIS (Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph) — ultraviolet/visible spectroscopy; used to study black hole disks, exoplanet atmospheres and galaxy composition.
- COS (Cosmic Origins Spectrograph) — ultraviolet spectroscopy optimized for faint, distant points of light, especially the intergalactic medium.
- FOS (Faint Object Spectrograph) and GHRS (Goddard High Resolution Spectrograph) — first-generation ultraviolet spectrographs, retired.
Pointing and support
- FGS (Fine Guidance Sensors) — three sensors that lock Hubble onto a target with extreme precision; they also double as a scientific instrument for measuring stellar positions.
- COSTAR — corrective optics installed in 1993 to fix the primary mirror's flaw, removed in 2009 once newer instruments had built-in correction.
- HSP (High Speed Photometer) — an early instrument for rapid brightness measurements, removed to make room for COSTAR.
Two practical notes: only some instruments operate at once, and the set has changed across servicing missions, so older images were taken with hardware no longer in use. If you want to know which instrument produced a specific picture, open the image's page on ESA/Hubble — the credit line and technical details usually name it.
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