Thousands of Images from Space Free to Download

Gain access to photography, real-time images, videos, and educational material through the Hubble space telescope

The discovery of outer space never ceases to amaze us. While we stare incredulously at billionaires like Jeff Bezos space travelling, and await the announcement of Elon Musk's next adventure, in some corner of the universe, spectacular images are generated to which we have free access.

All this is thanks to the launch, on April 23, 1990, of the Discovery space shuttle and its Hubble space telescope in tow. Days later, the telescope was undocked from Discovery and started floating in orbit, with a mission of capturing images. Since then, our perception of space has changed. This tool has provided the scientific community with visual information that had never been accessed before.

Currently, the team of astronomers working with Hubble is collaborating with communicators and educators, creating content with their findings for education, inspiration, and to make outer space more accessible to all. Read on to learn where you can find these incredible images and information.

The importance of Hubble

During decades of floating in orbit, the Hubble telescope has revealed data about space and time that were only conceivable once through our imagination. It helped reshape our perception of space with imagery ranging from ultraviolent space to the visible and infrared.

As the telescope focuses on black holes and planets around other stars and even distant galaxies, a team of specialists is able to investigate everything. The unique capabilities of the Hubble also help raise many questions: there are many things that the telescope perceives for which there is yet to find an explanation. Those images are also shared with the general public.

Categorized images

The team working with the telescope is in charge of capturing, listing, and sharing key images of all discoveries. Explanatory texts usually accompany these images.

As well as photos, you can also access distinctive artworks and infographics to help you better understand certain phenomena, such as stellar explosions. There is also a wide range of artist illustrations that deserve a separate chapter.

According to the experts, although Hubble is very powerful, it is still impossible to obtain images of certain bodies and phenomena. Since exoplanets, black holes, and certain distant galaxies are impossible to capture on the lens, scientists provide information to specially selected illustrators for capturing these faraway worlds. You can access those illustrations on the Hubble website.

Videos

In the video section, you can watch the universe come to life through animations, scientific visualizations, expert commentary, and other revealing material. For example, one of the videos, Ultra Deep Field, shows a six-minute visual exploration of space's ultra-deep field that can only be seen through Hubble. You will learn that a deep field is a prolonged observation in time in a specific part of space that enables visualization of the smallest possible objects with clarity.

These videos show galaxies located 12 billion light-years away. They provide the kind of information that allows astronomers to track the development of galaxies over cosmic time. If this sounds too complex, the videos usually stop at screenshots that explain the process.

Articles

In this section, you can have an analytical look at the beauty of the universe captured by Hubble: from planets and nebulae to galaxies and deep fields. Articles range from "Dark energy accelerating the expansion of the universe," "Gravitational waves: disturbances in the fabric of spacetime," to "Black holes: almost every galaxy has one" and "The meaning of light and color." If you are a science fiction writer, you’ll definitely find this section fascinating.

Educational resources

This is the area for you if you are looking for resources to learn more about space. It is a collection of material aimed at students, educators, developers, and professionals working in observatories and museums. It offers material ranging from the beginning of the Hubble mission to the innovative science it is enabling today.

Among the resources are monthly online events featuring a leading scientist, in which a different cosmic theme is discussed. These lectures are presented through a live stream on YouTube, and questions can be asked from the chat. Everything is recorded so that you can access previously broadcast events.

E-books

The Hubble team offers a collection of downloadable digital books you can read on tablets, e-book readers, computers, and other electronic devices. The Lives of Stars and Galaxies Through Space and Time are some available titles.

Wall mural images

If you need high-resolution material, you will find this page especially valuable. The spatial images offered here are accurate and of very high printable quality. The designs can turn the wall of a home into a panoramic window to the universe, complete with bright stars and colorful clouds of gas and dust.

You can print these out as a whole or as a series of individual images that you can then put together like a huge puzzle. Astronomical wall murals can be expensive to print, but they make an impressive and dramatic impact on any decor and are fascinating in a classroom setting.

Activities

Here you will find practical and attractive projects to test your knowledge and have fun while you learn about space.

Do you want to know more about the fascinating world of Hubble? You can access all the images, documents, videos, and educational material available on the fascinating Hubble archive from this link.

If you are interested in this type of scientific material, check out the course Creative Infographics: Between Art and Journalism, taught by one of the most renowned specialists in the field, Jaime Serra Palou.

English version by @acesarato

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