The Hubble Space Telescope, launched on April 24, 1990, has returned many stunning images of the cosmos. To celebrate its 23rd year, NASA used it to take a new — and stunning — infrared photo of the iconic Horsehead Nebula. The infrared photo was taken by the telescope’s Wide Field Camera 3 installed by spacewalking astronauts in 2009. The Hubble is expected to continue operating through April 2016. Its successor, the James Webb Space Telescope, is optimized to view in infrared light and is slated to blast off in 2018.
via cbsnews