Media advisory: brand-new Hubble 20th anniversary image to be revealed this Friday

The European Space Agency (ESA) in conjunction with American partners NASA and the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) will release a gorgeous new Hubble image that celebrates the venerable observatory’s 20th year in orbit. The Hubble anniversary images and videos will be posted on the revamped http://www.spacetelescope.org web site, the European home for Hubble science, at 10:00 CEST on Friday, 23 April 2010.

April 24 2010 will mark the 20th anniversary of launch of the iconic telescope. A project that took decades to get to the launch pad, Hubble is responsible for many of the most recent fundamental cosmic discoveries, including: the deepest views of our Universe, a more accurate estimation of the age of the Universe, the characterisation of black holes in the cores of galaxies and exoplanets orbiting stars outside of our Solar System.

ESA contributes a 15 percent share to Hubble's development and in return European astronomers receive a guaranteed 15 percent share of observing time. In practice the high quality of proposals from scientists in Europe has kept their average share closer to 20 percent. ESA's contributions to Hubble have been vital for the project.