from NASA The Hubble Telescope has captured thousands of space photos over the years, and with a handy tool on NASA’s website, you can easily see which photo it took on your birthday. The universe is a place of endless wonder. It is filled with breathtaking galaxies, alien planets, endless stars, mighty black holes and so much more. Humans have learned a lot regarding outer space in a relatively short time, but even so, there’s always something new for us to learn.
One tool that has been instrumental in this exploration is Hubble. Created by NASA and ESA, Hubble was launched in April 1990 as the most advanced space telescope of its time. More than 30 years later, it is still extremely important! Hubble has helped astronomers calculate the age of the universe and its rate of expansion, better understand our own solar system, and capture incredible photos of things millions of light-years from Earth.
As you’d expect, running Hubble for over 30 years means it’s captured a massive number of photos. As NASA explains on its website, “Hubble explores the universe 24/7. That means it’s observed fascinating cosmic wonders every day of the year, including your birthday.” In honor of Hubble’s 30th birthday in April 2020, NASA launched a section on its website titled “What Did Hubble See on Your Birthday?” It lets users enter their birthday and see what photo Hubble took that day, giving you a fun picture of space to associate with your special day.
How to Use the NASA Birthday Photo Website
The best part? Finding the Hubble photo that NASA took on your birthday is extremely easy. Simply go to the “What Did Hubble See On Your Birthday” section on the NASA website and find the “Select Your Birth Date” section at the bottom of the page. Click “Select Month” to choose your birth month, click “Select Date” to choose the day you were born, then click “Submit” to find the Hubble Photo taken on that day. In less than a second, NASA shows the photo taken by Hubble on your birthday.
In addition to the photo itself, NASA also lists what year it was taken and explains what it is regarding. For my birthday on October 2, for example, Hubble took a picture of GOODS South Field – an area of thousands of galaxies representing “more than 12 billion years of cosmic history.” There are share links on the top left of the image, allowing you to quickly share it on Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest. There are also buttons to hide background information, view the full image, or get even more information regarding it.
And that’s all there is to it! Refreshing the website resets the page so you can enter a different birthday and see a new Hubble for any other date you enter. The website also works on computers and smartphones, although it is much better optimized for computers. Keep these tips in mind, and you’ll find the picture Nasa took your birthday in no time.
Source: Nasa
