CNN | Hubble Space Telescope celebrates 30 years of discoveries and awe-inspiring images

(CNN) – The Hubble Space Telescope launched 30 years ago on Friday, forever changing the way we see the universe. The telescope’s ethereal, dreamy and almost fantasy-like views of space vistas have inspired people for decades and led to some of the most important astronomical discoveries.

The space observatory and its instruments, an international cooperative effort between NASA and the European Space Agency, captures unprecedented views of stars, galaxies and the distant universe in visible, ultraviolet and near-infrared light. These different wavelengths of light have allowed Hubble to peer into different regions of space that had never been observed before. —more—