1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:06,959 NASA's Hubble Space Telescope marks its 32nd birthday in April 2022. 2 00:00:06,986 --> 00:00:12,980 To celebrate, it shared its observations of the Hickson Compact Group 40, 3 00:00:12,980 --> 00:00:17,034 a close-knit collection of five galaxies. 4 00:00:17,034 --> 00:00:23,941 Every year, Hubble brings the universe into greater focus, shedding new light on mysteries of the cosmos. 5 00:00:23,941 --> 00:00:29,022 Here's a snapshot of Hubble's most recent discoveries. 6 00:00:29,022 --> 00:00:32,505 Solar System 7 00:00:32,522 --> 00:00:36,804 Hubble measured the biggest comet ever seen: 8 00:00:36,804 --> 00:00:41,543 a 500 trillion- ton behemoth, 75-85 miles wide. 9 00:00:41,543 --> 00:00:46,966 Hubble observed the atmospheres and weather on our solar system's gas giants, 10 00:00:46,966 --> 00:00:51,705 showing storm winds in Jupiter's Great Red Spot picking up speed, 11 00:00:51,705 --> 00:00:55,531 and Saturn's northern bands shifting colors. 12 00:00:55,531 --> 00:01:02,209 Scientists found new proof of water vapor in Ganymede and Europa's atmospheres. 13 00:01:02,209 --> 00:01:09,348 These molecules came from their icy exteriors, rather than the vast oceans underneath. 14 00:01:09,468 --> 00:01:13,181 Milky Way 15 00:01:13,181 --> 00:01:18,226 Hubble captured this image of an aging red giant star, wrapped in an orange envelope of carbon. 16 00:01:18,226 --> 00:01:22,795 This carbon is a byproduct of nuclear fusion, 17 00:01:22,826 --> 00:01:28,632 and may one day be the building blocks of new planets and life. 18 00:01:28,632 --> 00:01:35,866 Hubble captured the first ultraviolet image of a planet around another star. 19 00:01:35,866 --> 00:01:46,050 Five times Jupiter's mass, PDS 70b is still growing, providing new insights into how gas giants form and grow. 20 00:01:46,050 --> 00:01:52,808 Hubble spotted an expanding bubble of gas near the center of our galaxy. 21 00:01:52,847 --> 00:02:01,603 Researchers believe a "mini-jet" from a supermassive black hole is impacting and inflating the bubble. 22 00:02:01,603 --> 00:02:08,171 Jets burst from the black hole after it devours a star or gas cloud, like a cosmic burp. 23 00:02:08,208 --> 00:02:15,251 Hubble found that white dwarfs – the hot, dense cores of burned-out stars – may continue nuclear fusion. 24 00:02:15,280 --> 00:02:22,609 They still burn hydrogen on their surfaces, appearing younger than they actually are. 25 00:02:22,630 --> 00:02:26,533 Extragalactic 26 00:02:26,533 --> 00:02:33,576 Outside the Milky Way, Hubble noticed a black hole helping create stars, instead of consuming them. 27 00:02:33,603 --> 00:02:41,598 A stream of gas connects it with a stellar nursery, jumpstarting clusters of newborn stars. 28 00:02:41,695 --> 00:02:47,787 Astronomers were surprised to spot three strange celestial objects, 29 00:02:47,840 --> 00:02:53,075 two of which were mirror images of each other. 30 00:02:53,075 --> 00:02:59,547 They weren't identical twins, but warped views of a single galaxy. 31 00:02:59,547 --> 00:03:08,018 Foreground galaxies caused a gravitational lens, magnifying and duplicating one galaxy image into three. 32 00:03:08,018 --> 00:03:13,634 Gravitational lensing also allowed Hubble to detect the farthest individual star ever spotted. 33 00:03:13,634 --> 00:03:18,489 Its light took 12.9 billion years to reach us, 34 00:03:18,489 --> 00:03:24,676 giving us a glimpse back in time to when the universe was less than a billion years old. 35 00:03:24,676 --> 00:03:29,055 As Hubble ushers in its 33rd year of discovery, 36 00:03:29,055 --> 00:03:33,719 its observations will continue to expand humanity's knowledge of the cosmos. 37 00:03:33,751 --> 00:03:41,233 [ MUSIC ]