On April 24 1990 the Hubble Space Telescope was launched into orbit and over the last 26 years it’s sent back some of the most amazing images of space that we’ve ever seen, so it seems fitting that with its 26th birthday only days away NASA have decided to release yet another stunning photo, this time of NGC 7653 or as it’s more commonly known, the Bubble Nebula.
The Nebula gets its name thanks to its bubble like appearance and has been photographed by Hubble before however due to its size it’s the first time we’ve ever seen the Nebula in its entirety, made possible by an additional Wide Field Camera 3 which was installed on the telescope back in 2009.
Located 7,100 light-years away within the constellation of Cassiopeia the Nebula was discovered by William Herschel in 1787 and is lit by two sources, the first being a very young and extremely hot star hidden within it that is forcing gas outward to create its bubble-like shape whilst a nearby molecular cloud causes the bubble to glow. If you want the full resolution image as a wallpaper then head here.
