A Single Rose .....

The image of what appears to be a single rose is what the Hubble Telescope presents to astronomers to commemorate the Hubble Telescope's 21 years in space. 



Arp 273
Credit: NASA, ESA, A. Riess (STScI/JHU), L. Macri (Texas A&M University), and Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)



Arp 273 is made up of two interacting galaxies: UGC 1810, has a disk that is distorted into a rose-like shape by the gravitational tidal pull of the companion galaxy below it, known as UGC 1813.   These two galaxies are separated from each other by tens of thousands of light years; while Arp 273 is approximately 300 million light years away from Earth.

The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between NASA and the European Space Agency. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center manages the telescope. The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) conducts Hubble science operations.  

Since it's deployment April 24, 1990, the Hubble Telescope has also enabled Astronomers to uncover one of the youngest galaxies in the distant universe, with stars that formed 13.5 billion years ago, a mere 200 million years after the Big Bang (as depicted below).

Image credit: NASA, ESA, CRAL, LAM, STScI

These are just two accounts of how vital the Hubble Telescope is to solving so many of history's mysteries, which before were unfathomable.  Long Live the Hubble Telescope!