In 2008, Hubble released the first visible-light picture of a planet around another star. Planets around distant stars are extremely difficult to visualize — astronomers usually find them by observing the dimming of light as a planet passes in front of a star, or the wobble of the star as its tugged by the planet’s gravity.... Read More

Matter warps the space around it. The more matter there is, the stronger the warp. For really strong distortions of space-time, like black holes, the warping acts like a lens. Such gravitational lenses have been found, and astronomers can use them to study very distant and very faint galaxies.... Read More

Jupiter’s Great Red Spot, a whirling storm on the gas giant planet’s surface, has been one of the planet’s most recognizable features for centuries. But in 2006 and 2008, Jupiter’s Great Red Spot was joined by two companions, smaller red spot storms. ... Read More

Take a safari through the Coma Cluster, one of the richest nearby galaxy collections. Thousands of galaxies are gathered together here, making it an ideal location to witness the diversity of galaxies in the universe. ... Read More

Hubble celebrated its 18th anniversary in 2008 by releasing a huge image gallery of interacting galaxies. Such galaxies pass close enough to each other that their mutual gravity can stretch and distort their shapes. Eventually, interacting galaxies merge together to form a single larger galaxy. However, since these interactions can take billions of years, how do we study them? ... Read More