HEIC0505: FOR RELEASE 14:45 (CEST)/8:45 AM EDT 14 April, 2005

News release:
Hubble’s 15th Anniversary – an opportunity too good to miss!

14-April-2005 The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope is one of the biggest 
scientific projects of all time and is approaching the 15th anniversary 
of its launch. To mark the event on 24 April, the European Space Agency 
is presenting a series of unique activities in collaboration with 
partners all over Europe. These includes an exclusive, full-length DVD 
film (one of the most widely distributed documentary films ever), a CD 
of the film soundtrack, a full-colour book and additional educational 
material. All over Europe, there will be Hubble Day events, press 
events and planetarium shows about Hubble.

Background
On 24 April 2005 the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope will have been in 
orbit around the Earth for 15 years. As an observatory in space, Hubble 
is a major project that has made an enormous impact both in terms of 
scientific output and in its immediate public appeal.

Hubble has exploited a unique scientific niche where no other 
instruments can compete. The telescope consistently delivers super-
sharp images and clean, uncontaminated spectra over the entire near-
infrared to ultraviolet regions of the electromagnetic spectrum. This 
has opened up new scientific territory and resulted in many paradigm-
breaking discoveries. 

Exquisite quality images have enabled astronomers to gain entirely new 
insights into the workings of a huge range of different astronomical 
objects. Hubble has provided the visual overview of the underlying 
astrophysical processes taking place in these objects, ranging from 
planets in our Solar System to galaxies in the young Universe.

The renowned British astronomer Malcolm Longair writes in the preface 
to ESA’s anniversary book: ”The Hubble Space Telescope has undoubtedly 
had a greater public impact than any other space astronomy mission 
ever. The images included in this beautiful volume are quite staggering 
in what they reveal about the Universe we live in and have already 
become part of our common scientific and cultural heritage.”

The movie
ESA’s anniversary DVD film “Hubble - 15 years of discovery” covers all 
aspects of the Hubble Space Telescope project – a journey through the 
history, the troubled early life and the ultimate scientific successes 
of Hubble. This portrait, directed by Lars Lindberg Christensen, 
contains large amounts of previously unpublished footage of superb 
quality. With more than 500,000 copies distributed, this DVD movie is 
probably the most widely available science documentary ever.

Hubble's spectacular visual images make a stunning backdrop throughout 
the film, bringing an immediacy and vitality as the narrative reveals 
the new insights Hubble has inspired in all fields of astronomy from 
exoplanets to black holes. Complex though the science behind the 
telescope’s images often is, Art Director Martin Kornmesser has 
developed a unique style of elaborate 3D animation that enhances and 
vividly clarifies the underlying science.

The movie is presented by an ESA scientist, Dr. Robert (Bob) Fosbury, 
who has himself used Hubble for his own research on many occasions.

The 83-minute film DVD contains more than 60 minutes of bonus material 
and has narration in three languages: English, German and Greek. In 
addition, there are subtitles in 15 languages: Bulgarian, Danish, 
English, German, Greek, Spanish, French, Italian, Dutch, Norwegian, 
Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Finnish and Swedish.

The film can be requested by TV broadcasters on Betacam SP or DVD 
without cost. This material may be used freely for shorter reports in 
the time leading up to the anniversary, but may not be broadcast in its 
entirety before 24 April.  

The score
The score for the film especially composed by the German composer duo 
moveTWO – Axel Kornmesser and Markus Löffler. Its celestial and 
enchanting style provides the perfect setting for this audiovisual 
voyage through the cosmos. In a special appearance on the soundtrack, 
the Celtic vocalist Audrey Quinn captivates the listeners with her 
dreamy voice.

The score soundtrack will be available in May on a CD bundled with the 
DVD in selected record stores throughout Europe and the USA.

Events, planetarium shows and press meetings
All over Europe, more than 40 Hubble Day events are planned. Thousands 
of copies of ESA’s DVD will be given away for free and two amazing 
anniversary images from Hubble are going to be unveiled. Many 
planetariums in Europe have premieres of their new Hubble shows on 24 
April. A list of the many events can be found on the ESA Hubble web 
site.

There are press meetings at various sites around Europe: For instance 
at ESA/ESTEC in Noordwijk (19 April) and at Hamburg Planetarium (with 
ESA/Hubble) 22 April. More information is available on the web.


Educational material
A 24-page set of educational material in English will be published 
online in PDF format on the ESA Hubble website on 22 April. 
The educational material is aimed at students from 7th Grade to High-
School (low-level Science). Sample tasks include calculations of the 
mass of the Earth using the orbit of Hubble or the number of stars that 
would fit inside the Solar System.

Anniversary Book
ESA has produced a book in full colour that gives an overview of the 
project with emphasis on the magnificent images and the incredible 
discoveries. Astronomy is fortunate in that telescopes not only produce 
results of great scientific value, but also of eye-catching beauty and 
artistic potential. This book shows the close relationship between the 
two at its best. 

Despite its age, Hubble continues to deliver frontier science results 
on a daily basis, and as Bob Fosbury remarks: “Hubble’s current 
capabilities lie far beyond the dreams of its original designers. I 
think what arouses the strongest feelings in me is watching the 
astronauts carrying out day after day of extremely arduous spacewalking 
from the Shuttle, fitting new instruments to the telescope and 
replacing ageing components. It is then that you realise that this is a 
serious business and that people are putting their lives on the line to 
allow you to understand what goes on in the Universe.”

The DVD, book etc. mentioned here are available from the various 
outlets listed on the ESA Hubble web site: www.spacetelescope.org

# # #

Notes for editors
The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation 
between ESA and NASA.

This project was realised in collaboration with 22 European partners:
o	Academy of Athens (Greece)
o	Eugenides Planetarium (Greece)
o	Eleftherotypia (Greece)
o	Hamburg Planetarium (Germany)
o	Sterne und Weltraum (Germany)
o	Astronomie Heute (Germany)
o	New Scientist (UK)
o	ESPACE magazine (France)
o	Expresso (Portugal)
o	Tycho Brahe Planetarium (Denmark)
o	Danish Space Centre (Denmark)
o	Politiken (Denmark)
o	Ursa Astronomical Association (Finland)
o	The Finnish National Technology Agency (Finland)
o	Centro Multimeios de Espinho (Portugal)
o	Fundação Navegar (Portugal)
o	Le Stelle (Italy)
o	Zeiss Planetarium Vienna (Austria)
o	SDC (Denmark/Germany)
o	Armagh Planetarium (Northern Ireland)
o	DeKoepel (The Netherlands)
o	Veen Magazines (The Netherlands).

Image credit: ESA

For more information, please contact:

Lars Lindberg Christensen
Executive Producer/Director
Hubble European Space Agency Information Centre, Garching, Germany
Tel: +49-(0)89-3200-6306
Cellular: +49-(0)173-3872-621
E-mail: lars@eso.org

Bob Fosbury
Lead Scientist/Presenter
Tel: +49-(0)89-3200-6291
E-mail: rfosbury@eso.org

Martin Kornmesser
Art Director/Production Designer
Tel: +49-(0)89-3200-6586
E-mail: mkornmes@eso.org

Axel Kornmesser/Markus Löffler
Composers
Tel: +49-(0)89-89169020
E-mail: music@movetwo.de