On Friday, April 24, NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope celebrates the 30th anniversary of its launch aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery. In honor of that occasion, a stunning new Hubble image of the cosmos will be released.
‘Imiloa Astronomy Center was selected as one of a limited number of locations throughout the nation to unveil the Hubble 30th anniversary photo to the public. Since ‘Imiloa is temporarily closed to help lessen the spread of COVID-19, this great unveiling and celebration of Hubble’s 30th anniversary will take place April 24 through ‘Imiloa’s online portals: website, Facebook and Instagram.
These national unveilings are the brainchild of the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, home to Hubble’s science operations center. In late 2019, STScI put out a call for applications from museums, science centers and other organizations interested in hosting an event to display Hubble’s 30th anniversary image. After a rigorous selection process, 74 organizations were chosen to host a public unveiling, including at least one location in all 50 states.
Besides the image’s great unveil, there will also be a Facebook Live Watch Party planned for the film “Deep Field: The Impossible Magnitude of our Universe” hosted by Grammy Award-winning composer and conductor Eric Whitacre on his Facebook page at www.facebook.com/EricWhitacreOfficial/. This 30-minute film was a collaboration between STScI and Whitacre to showcase stunning images captured by NASA and using STScI visualizations to transport audience from Earth to the universe, accompanied by a virtual choir of 8,000 singers, with ages ranging from 4- 87 from 120 countries.
A full list of all the national unveilings as well as downloadable resources and a gallery of Hubble’s most iconic images are available at https://hubblesite.org/hubble-30th-anniversary
‘Imiloa Astronomy Center is planning to host a public event on site at a later date to further celebrate Hubble’s 30th anniversary. Visit imiloahawaii.org for more information and updates about Hubble’s celebration.