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All Seasons

Season 1

  • S01E01 Hubble sees 'Comet Galaxy' being ripped apart by Galaxy Cluster

    • March 2, 2007

    The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, in collaboration with several other ground- and space-based telescopes, has captured a galaxy being ripped apart by a galaxy cluster's gravitational field and harsh environment. The finding sheds light on the mysterious process by which gas-rich spiral-shaped galaxies might evolve into gas-poor irregular- or elliptical-shaped galaxies over billions of years.

  • S01E02 Galaxy Bars and Supermassive Black Holes

    • April 3, 2007

    Hubble has delivered an unrivalled napshot of the nearby barred spiral galaxy NGC 1672. This remarkable image provides a high-definition view of the galaxy's large bar, its fields of star-forming clouds and its dark bands of interstellar dust.

  • S01E03 Celebrating Hubble's 17th Birthday with Violent Stellar Fireworks

    • April 24, 2007

    The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope celebrates its 17th birthday with one of the largest panoramic images ever taken. The violent stellar fireworks of the Carina Nebula.

  • S01E04 Hubble Finds Multiple Stellar Baby Booms in a Globular Cluster

    • May 2, 2007

    New Hubble observations of the massive globular cluster NGC 2808 provide vidence that it has three generations of stars instead of one as current theories predict.

  • S01E05 Hubble Discovers Ring of Dark Matter

    • May 15, 2007

    An international team of astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has discovered a ghostly ring of dark matter formed long ago during a colossal collision between two galaxy clusters. This is the first time that dark matter has been found with a distribution that differs substantially from the distribution of ordinary matter.

  • S01E06 A Battle of Giants - Telescopes in Space and on the Ground

    • June 3, 2007

    Have you ever wondered why some telescopes are launched into space while others are built on remote mountain tops? What is actually the best for astronomy? Here we provide a ringside view of the fight for the elusive photons from deep space - is it a battle of the telescope giants?

  • S01E07 Uncovering the Veil Nebula

    • July 31, 2007

    The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has uncovered magnificent sections of the Veil Nebula - the shattered remains of a supernova that exploded some 5-10,000 years ago. The new Hubble images provide beautiful views of the delicate, wispy structure resulting from this cosmic explosion.

  • S01E08 A Step Closer to Our Origin

    • September 6, 2007

    By scrutinising the Hubble Ultra Deep field - the deepest image of the sky ever made - the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope and the NASA Spitzer Space Telescope have joined forces to discover nine of the smallest, faintest, most compact galaxies ever observed in the distant Universe.

  • S01E09 Extreme Star Cluster Bursts into Life

    • October 2, 2007

    The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has captured a spectacular image of NGC 3603, a giant nebula hosting one of the most prominent massive young clusters in the Milky Way. This is a splendid location for continued studies of stellar birth in star forming regions.

  • S01E10 Making the Universe Come to Life - Behind the Hubble Images

    • October 24, 2007

    We live in a Universe of unimaginable scale and almost incomprehensible beauty. How is the light from the Universe transformed into the images that have inspired generations by making the Universe come to life?

  • S01E11 A Grand Design in a Galactic Festoon

    • November 29, 2007

    The galaxy Messier 74 lies at a distance of over 30 million light years. In this latest image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope the enormous swirls of this stunning spiral galaxy arc across space, adorned with glowing pink regions of hydrogen gas and lit by the pale blue light of millions of newly formed stars.

  • S01E12 Murk on a Monster Planet

    • December 11, 2007

    Using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers have found the first clear evidence of high altitude haze or clouds in the atmosphere of an extrasolar planet. This discovery reveals a deeper understanding of the class of giant planets that astronomers call hot Jupiters.

  • S01E13 Gargantuan Galaxy NGC 1132 - A Cosmic Fossil

    • February 5, 2008

  • S01E14 Hubble Finds First Organic Molecule on Extrasolar Planet

    • March 19, 2008

  • S01E15 Black Hole Found in Enigmatic Omega Centauri

    • April 2, 2008

  • S01E16 Galaxies Gone Wild

    • April 24, 2008

  • S01E17 Special New Views of the Skies

    • July 25, 2008

    In this new Hubblecast episode, Dr. J guides us through the first chapter of Eyes on the Skies, the International Astronomical Union's official movie celebrating the telescope on its 400th anniversary in 2009. It has been 400 years since Galileo Galilei first walked out into a field and trained his telescope upon the heavens. To celebrate this extraordinary anniversary, a special series of Hubblecast podcasts is devoted to the telescope ? the historical development, the scientific importance, the technological breakthroughs, and also the people behind this ground-breaking invention, their triumphs and their failures. In this first chapter of the Special Edition of Hubblecast, Dr. J takes you on a whirl-wind tour of the invention of the telescope as you meet inventors from Hans Lipperhey to Galileo Galilei to Christiaan Huygens. Who invented the telescope? What was it first used for? How did early telescopes evolve? Sit back and enjoy the view!

  • S01E18 Hubble Sees Magnetic Monster in Erupting Galaxy

    • August 20, 2008

  • S01E19 Special: Bigger is Better

    • September 3, 2008

    In this new Hubblecast episode, Dr. J guides us through the second chapter of Eyes on the Skies, the International Astronomical Union's official movie celebrating the telescope on its 400th anniversary in 2009. In their quest for ever-fainter objects and finer detail, astronomers have always demanded bigger telescopes. Scientific vision, technical nerve and personal perseverance led to the giant observatories of the early 20th century. Located on remote peaks and protected beneath majestic domes, these awe-inspiring instruments have revealed an expanding and evolving Universe, populated by a stunning variety of galaxies and nuclear powered stars that produced the elements in our bodies. A few decades ago the five metre Hale Telescope on Palomar Mountain seemed to be the ultimate telescope. But was it?

  • S01E20 Special: Technology to the Rescue

    • September 25, 2008

    In this new Hubblecast episode, Dr. J guides us through the third chapter of Eyes on the Skies, the International Astronomical Union's official movie celebrating the telescope on its 400th anniversary in 2009. Progress in telescopic astronomy would have come to a grinding halt in the second half of the twentieth century if it weren't for the digital revolution. Powerful computers have enabled a wealth of new technologies that have resulted in the construction of giant telescopes, perched on high mountaintops with monolithic or segmented mirrors as large as swimming pools. Astronomers have even devised clever ways of undoing the distorting effects of atmospheric turbulence and of combining individual telescope mirrors into virtual behemoths with unsurpassed eyesight. The optical wizardry of 21st century telescope building has ushered in a completely new era of ground-based astronomical discovery.

  • S01E21 Special: From Silver to Silicon

    • November 13, 2008

    In this new Hubblecast episode, Dr. J guides us through the fourth chapter of Eyes on the Skies, the International Astronomical Union's movie celebrating the telescope on its 400th anniversary in 2009. Observing the Universe through the eyepiece of a telescope is one thing, but recording the observations for posterity is something quite different. Originally astronomers used pen and paper to draw what they saw, but the human eye is a lousy detector and our brain can play tricks on us. Astrophotography, first explored in the mid-nineteenth century, has proved to be a powerful, objective way of recording telescopic images with the advantage that long exposures revealed much more than the eye could ever see. But the true revolution arrived with electronic detectors and digital image processing.

  • S01E22 Hubble Directly Observes Planet Orbiting Fomalhaut

    • November 13, 2008

  • S01E23 Special: Seeing the Invisible

    • November 25, 2008

    In this new Hubblecast episode, Dr. J guides us through the fifth chapter of Eyes on the Skies, the International Astronomical Union's movie celebrating the telescope on its 400th anniversary in 2009. The Universe is a black void, with a scattering of stars, nebulae and galaxies – or so it appears to observers using visible light. But if we include other forms of radiation invisible to us, the picture changes completely: clouds of interstellar hydrogen gas, emitting radio waves; stellar nurseries, glowing in the infrared; explosive outbursts of gamma rays and the all-sky background hiss of the Big Bang, diluted by almost fourteen billion years of cosmic expansion. So how do astronomers learn about the unseen Universe? By building telescopes and detectors that can see the invisible. Watch this Hubblecast episode and find out more.

  • S01E24 Special: Beyond Earth

    • December 11, 2008

    In this new Hubblecast episode, Dr. J guides us through the sixth chapter of Eyes on the Skies, the International Astronomical Union's movie celebrating the telescope on its 400th anniversary in 2009. There's no better place for a telescope than space itself. Above the Earth's atmosphere observations are no longer hampered by air turbulence, so telescopic images of distant stars and galaxies are razor-sharp. Unlike a ground-based telescope, an instrument in Earth orbit can operate twenty-four hours a day and reach every part of the sky. Observing from space also makes it possible to study types of radiation that are otherwise absorbed by the atmosphere. Little wonder that the Hubble Space Telescope has made so many contributions to astronomy. And Hubble is not alone — more than 100 space observatories have been launched since the 1960s.Watch this Hubblecast episode and find out more.

  • S01E25 Special: What's Next?

    • December 15, 2008

    In this new Hubblecast Special episode, Dr. J guides us through the seventh chapter of Eyes on the Skies, the International Astronomical Union's movie celebrating the telescope's 400th anniversary in 2009. The telescope has been mankind's window on the Universe for four hundred years. It has provided scientists with unprecedented views of planets, stars and galaxies from our cosmic doorstep to the very depths of space and time. But despite their incredible performance, even the newest and most powerful telescopes leave room for improvement. Astronomers always want to venture beyond their current horizons. In this final chapter we take a look at things to come — the revolutionary ground-based telescopes and space observatories of the future. One thing is certain: there is much left to discover.

  • S01E26 Exceptionally Deep View of Strange Galaxy

    • February 5, 2009

  • S01E27 What Has Hubble Taught us About the Planets?

    • April 29, 2009

    For nineteen years, NASA/ESA' s Hubble Space Telescope has made some of the most dramatic discoveries in the history of astronomy but it has also helped scientists learn more about our own Solar System. From its vantage point 600 km above the Earth, Hubble has studied every planet in our Solar System except Mercury where light from the Sun would damage its instruments. Hubble has captured the impact of a comet on Jupiter, immense storms on Neptune and even tiny dwarf planets at the edge of our Solar System. The veteran telescope keeps a watchful eye on our solar backyard.

  • S01E28 The Fifth and Final Hubble Servicing Mission

    • May 1, 2009

  • S01E29 Mission Accomplished: Healing Hubble

    • June 22, 2009

  • S01E30 Rebirth of an Icon

    • September 9, 2009

  • S01E31 Sky merger yields sparkling dividends

    • October 13, 2009

  • S01E32 Born in Beauty: Proplyds in the Orion Nebula

    • December 14, 2009

  • S01E33 Saturn's stunning double show

    • February 11, 2010

    In January and March 2009, researchers using Hubble took advantage of a rare opportunity to record Saturn when its rings are edge-on, resulting in a unique movie featuring both of the giant planet's poles. Saturn is only in this position every 15 years or so and this favourable orientation has allowed a sustained study of the two beautiful and dynamic aurorae, Saturn's own northern and southern lights.

  • S01E34 Hubble snaps heavyweight of the Leo Triplet

    • April 8, 2010

  • S01E35 The stuff of legend

    • April 15, 2010

  • S01E36 Gifts from the sky: honouring 20 years of Hubble

    • April 23, 2010

    Throughout its 20-year career, while moving at a staggering 28 000 kilometres per hour, the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has made more than 930 000 observations and snapped over 570 000 images of 30 000 celestial objects. It has made more than 110 000 trips around our planet while collecting more than 45 terabytes of data, enough information to fill nearly 5800 DVD movies. Astronomers using Hubble data have published more than 8700 scientific papers, making it one of the most productive scientific instruments ever built. Join Dr J as he reviews the life of this prized observatory and presents it the Cosmic Lifetime Achievement Award for the scientific and artistic gifts it has given us.

  • S01E37 Bubbles and baby stars

    • June 22, 2010

  • S01E38 Hubble in popular culture

    • September 1, 2010

    When Hubble was launched in 1990, every astronomer knew it had an opportunity to make profound breakthroughs in science. A few realised its potential as a tool for inspiring people with awe for the Universe. But could anyone have predicted how deeply Hubble would become embedded in popular culture?

  • S01E39 The Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey (GOODS)

    • September 27, 2010

  • S01E40 Wide Field Camera 3 - Hubble's New Miracle Camera

    • October 29, 2010

  • S01E41 Hubble's History Told by Hubble's Scientists

    • December 14, 2010

  • S01E42 Hubble's Greatest Hits

    • January 27, 2011

    What makes a scientific discovery really important? It's partly down to how much scientists use the discovery in subsequent work -- but it’s also partly down to what inspires their imagination. In this episode, the Hubblecast talks to some leading astronomers about their favourite Hubble discovery. Meanwhile, our presenter, Dr J, struggles to make up his mind.

  • S01E43 Hubble and Black Holes

    • February 28, 2011

    For centuries, scientists imagined objects so heavy and dense that their gravity might be strong enough to pull anything in - including light. They would be, quite literally, a black hole in space. But it’s only in the past few decades that astronomers have conclusively proved their existence. Today, Hubble lets scientists measure the effects of black holes, make images of their surroundings and glean fascinating insights into the evolution of our cosmos.

  • S01E44 Hubble spies on the Tarantula Nebula

    • March 15, 2011

  • S01E45 Building a treasure trove of observations

    • April 21, 2011

  • S01E46 A tour of Centaurus A

    • June 16, 2011

  • S01E47 Pandora's Cluster

    • June 22, 2011

  • S01E48 Deep Observations of the Andromeda Galaxy

    • July 21, 2011

  • S01E49 Supersonic Jets From Newborn Stars

    • August 31, 2011

  • S01E50 Q&A with Dr J

    • October 25, 2011

  • S01E51 Star-Forming Region S106

    • December 15, 2011

  • S01E52 The Death of Stars

    • January 27, 2012

  • S01E53 Hidden Treasures in Hubble's Archive

    • March 27, 2012

  • S01E54 22 Years In Images

    • April 17, 2012

  • S01E55 Crash of the Titans

    • June 1, 2012

  • S01E56 Dramatic Change Spotted On a Faraway Planet

    • June 28, 2012

    In this episode of the Hubblecast, Dr J (aka Dr Joe Liske) presents the latest discovery about HD 189733b, an exoplanet that has been repeatedly studied by Hubble. Observations taken in 2011 using Hubble and the Swift satellite showed a flare from the planet’s parent star scorching the upper atmosphere and driving it off into space. This is the first time that clear change has been observed in an exoplanet’s atmosphere. The observations give a tantalising glimpse of changing weather on planets outside our Solar System.

  • S01E57 Hubble's hidden Treasures Unveiled

    • August 23, 2012

    In this episode of the Hubblecast, Joe Liske (aka Dr J) presents the winners of the Hidden Treasures image processing competition. In May 2012, we asked members of the public to delve into Hubble's vast science archive to uncover pictures that had never been seen outside of the scientific community — and then to try their hand at processing the scientific data into attractive images.

  • S01E58 Caught in the Cosmic Web

    • October 16, 2012

  • S01E59 Unweaving the Rainbow

    • November 12, 2012

    In this episode of the Hubblecast, we do away with Hubble’s stunning pictures of the cosmos, and focus on one of the telescope’s most important — but least known — functions. Like a digital camera, Hubble’s cameras produce colour images by sampling just a handful of colours and combining them together into one picture. The detail is extraordinary — but while the colours are accurate enough for the human eye, they are not good enough for some kinds of scientific work, such as the study of distant galaxies and extrasolar planets. For much of their research, astronomers use Hubble’s spectrometers, devices that split up light into a rainbow of component colours, to reveal many of the hidden properties of the Universe. These observing methods may not produce attractive images, but they lie behind some of the most profound science that Hubble does. In this episode, presenter Joe Liske (aka Dr J) and Hubble astronomer Bob Fosbury give a introduction to spectroscopy using Hubble, how it works, and what it’s for.

  • S01E60 Galaxy scores a Bullseye

    • December 6, 2012

  • S01E61 A Tour of NGC 5189

    • December 18, 2012

  • S01E62 A spiral Galaxy with a Secret

    • February 5, 2013

  • S01E63 From the distant past - Hubble and Art

    • March 6, 2013

  • S01E64 It all ends with a Bang!

    • April 3, 2013

  • S01E65 A whole new view of the Horsehead Nebula - Celebrating Hubble's 23rd Birthday

    • April 19, 2013

  • S01E66 Hubble uncovers the secrets of the Ring Nebula

    • May 23, 2013

    Episode 66 of the Hubblecast explores the Ring Nebula (Messier 57). Although this nebula is one of the most famous objects in our skies, more than 200 years after its discovery astronomers are still unveiling some of its secrets. The Ring Nebula was discovered in the late 18th century, but its true shape and structure has remained unclear. Now, a team of astronomers has used the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, alongside existing ground-based data, to explore the Ring Nebula in depth. The astronomers wanted to better understand the nebula’s structure, evolution, physical conditions, and motion — and it turns out that the Ring Nebula is not actually very ring-shaped after all. Hubblecast 66 showcases stunning new Hubble images of this beautiful object, showing the bright, colourful centre of the nebula, and the dramatically turbulent space that surrounds it.

  • S01E67 Of Galaxies and Penguins - Arp 142

    • June 20, 2013

  • S01E68 The Hubble Time Machine

    • August 30, 2013

  • S01E69 What has Hubble learned from Star Clusters?

    • November 14, 2013

    The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has observed many star clusters. As well as being scientifically interesting, these clusters produce stunning images, appearing like sparkling baubles in the sky. This episode of the Hubblecast looks at how Hubble has studied and imaged these beautiful objects, also introducing a striking new image of Messier 15, one of the oldest globular clusters in our skies. This is the best ever image of this cluster, which contains over 100 000 stars, a planetary nebula known as Pease 1 (otherwise named PN Ku 648 or Kürster 648), and something more exotic: at its core, it is thought to host a rare type of black hole.

  • S01E70 Peering around Cosmic Corners

    • December 6, 2013

  • S01E71 Visible echoes around RS Puppis

    • December 17, 2013

  • S01E72 Clues to a Cosmic Crime

    • March 4, 2014

    The newest episode of the Hubblecast showcases striking new observations of a spiral galaxy moving through the heart of a galaxy cluster named Abell 3627. This cluster is violently ripping the spiral’s entrails out into space, leaving bright blue streaks as telltale clues to this cosmic crime

  • S01E73 Hubble revisits the Monkey Head Nebula for 24th Birthday snap

    • March 17, 2014

  • S01E74 Hubble and Heaven’s Carousel

    • May 22, 2014

    This episode of the Hubblecast explores the intersection of science and art through the sound artwork of Tim Otto Roth - premiered in March 2014 at the fourth Hubble Space Telescope Conference at the Accademia dei Lincei in Rome. Heaven’s Carousel is a huge carousel like sound installation with 36 rotating illuminated loudspeakers which is inspired by Hubble research, in particular the accelerating Universe.

  • S01E75 Dwarf Galaxies that Pack a Punch

    • June 19, 2014

  • S01E76 Merging Galaxies and Droplets of Starbirth

    • July 10, 2014

  • S01E77 Hubble and the Bermuda Triangle of space

    • September 18, 2014

  • S01E78 Q&A with Dr J (Part-1)

    • October 22, 2014

  • S01E79 Q&A with Dr J (Part-2)

    • November 13, 2014

    In the summer of 2014 we asked the public to send us their Hubble- and astronomy-related questions, and the response was incredible! In this episode Dr J answers a selection of the questions about science related to Hubble. These range from questions about what Hubble has achieved within the Solar System, to the science it has uncovered at the very edge of the observable Universe. In this episode Dr J explains some of the key concepts, and biggest misconceptions, about the Universe we live in.

  • S01E80 The riddle of the missing stars

    • November 20, 2014

  • S01E81 Ode to Hubble

    • December 10, 2014

  • S01E82 New view of the Pillars of Creation

    • January 5, 2015

  • S01E83 A cosmic double act - Hubble meets James Webb

    • March 19, 2015

  • S01E84 A starry snapshot for Hubble’s 25th

    • April 23, 2015

  • S01E85 Ode to Hubble

    • June 5, 2015

  • S01E86 The wings of the Twin Jet Nebula

    • August 26, 2015

  • S01E87 The many mysteries of Pluto

    • September 23, 2015

  • S01E88 Mysterious Ripples Found Racing Through Planet-forming Disc

    • October 7, 2015

  • S01E89 Edwin Hubble

    • December 10, 2015

  • S01E90 The final frontier

    • February 9, 2016

  • S01E91 The future of Hubble (Part-1)

    • April 8, 2016

  • S01E92 26th anniversary

    • April 21, 2016

  • S01E93 Telescope Teamwork

    • July 6, 2016

  • S01E94 The future of Hubble (Part-2)

    • August 18, 2016

    In April 2016 the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope celebrated its 26th year in orbit. More than a quarter of a century of intriguing observations and remarkable discoveries. But what is there left for Hubble, and the forthcoming James Webb Space Telescope, to do? In this second episode on the future of Hubble scientists and the director of the Space Telescope Science Institute share with us their view on Hubble’s shining future.

  • S01E95 The impact of astronomy on our technological world

    • October 4, 2016

  • S01E96 How many galaxies are there?

    • October 13, 2016

  • S01E97 Hubble, exoplanets and the hunt for life

    • December 15, 2016

  • S01E98 Hubble’s biggest discoveries (Part-1)

    • February 23, 2017

  • S01E99 Hubble’s biggest discoveries (Part-2)

    • March 22, 2017

    To many, Hubble is best known for its stunning images of celestial objects, but among astronomers it is admired for the valuable data it delivers. Hubble has helped revolutionise astronomy, including shedding light on dark matter and dark energy, lifting the veil on black holes, and peering into the dusty regions around stars to image exoplanets. This new Hubblecast is the second part of an exploration of some of Hubble’s most important discoveries throughout its history.

  • S01E100 Best of Hubblecast

    • April 20, 2017

  • S01E101 Our Place in Space

    • June 28, 2017

  • S01E102 Taking the fingerprints of exoplanets

    • October 11, 2017

  • S01E103 Hubble observes source of gravitational waves for the first time

    • October 16, 2017

  • S01E104 Illustrating Hubble’s discoveries

    • December 19, 2017

  • S01E105 Light: Best of Hubble 2017

    • December 21, 2017

    This video provides a look back over the 10 best images Hubble released in 2017. In total ESA/Hubble released 181 images, graphs and illustrations, as well as 55 videos, supporting press releases and announcements on www.spacetelescope.org, in 2017.

  • S01E106 Light: Flying through the Orion Nebula

    • January 15, 2018

  • S01E107 Decoding the colours of NGC 3344

    • February 14, 2018

  • S01E108 Light: Hubble finds most distant star

    • April 2, 2018

  • S01E109 Diving into the Lagoon Nebula

    • April 19, 2018

  • S01E110 Light: New test of Einstein’s general relativity

    • June 21, 2018

  • S01E111 Hubble sees `Oumuamua getting a boost

    • June 27, 2018

  • S01E112 Light: Mars and Saturn

    • July 26, 2018

  • S01E113 Nancy Roman - The mother of Hubble

    • October 8, 2018

  • S01E114 How does Hubble orientate itself in space?

    • December 19, 2018

  • S01E115 Light: Triangulum Galaxy in unrivalled detail

    • January 7, 2019

Season 2

  • S02E01 Gargantuan Galaxy NGC 1132 - A Cosmic Fossil

    • February 8, 2008

  • S02E02 Hubble Finds First Organic Molecule on Extrasolar Planet

    • March 19, 2008

  • S02E03 Black hole found in enigmatic Omega Centauri

    • April 2, 2008

  • S02E04 Galaxies gone wild!

    • April 24, 2008

  • S02E05 Special: New views of the skies

    • July 25, 2008

    In this new Hubblecast episode, Dr. J guides us through the first chapter of Eyes on the Skies, the International Astronomical Union's official movie celebrating the telescope on its 400th anniversary in 2009. It has been 400 years since Galileo Galilei first walked out into a field and trained his telescope upon the heavens. To celebrate this extraordinary anniversary, a special series of Hubblecast podcasts is devoted to the telescope ? the historical development, the scientific importance, the technological breakthroughs, and also the people behind this ground-breaking invention, their triumphs and their failures. In this first chapter of the Special Edition of Hubblecast, Dr. J takes you on a whirl-wind tour of the invention of the telescope as you meet inventors from Hans Lipperhey to Galileo Galilei to Christiaan Huygens. Who invented the telescope? What was it first used for? How did early telescopes evolve? Sit back and enjoy the view!

  • S02E06 Hubble sees magnetic monster in erupting galaxy

    • August 20, 2008

  • S02E07 Special: Bigger is better

    • September 3, 2008

    In this new Hubblecast episode, Dr. J guides us through the second chapter of Eyes on the Skies, the International Astronomical Union's official movie celebrating the telescope on its 400th anniversary in 2009. In their quest for ever-fainter objects and finer detail, astronomers have always demanded bigger telescopes. Scientific vision, technical nerve and personal perseverance led to the giant observatories of the early 20th century. Located on remote peaks and protected beneath majestic domes, these awe-inspiring instruments have revealed an expanding and evolving Universe, populated by a stunning variety of galaxies and nuclear powered stars that produced the elements in our bodies. A few decades ago the five metre Hale Telescope on Palomar Mountain seemed to be the ultimate telescope. But was it?

  • S02E08 Special: Technology to the rescue

    • September 25, 2008

    In this new Hubblecast episode, Dr. J guides us through the third chapter of Eyes on the Skies, the International Astronomical Union's official movie celebrating the telescope on its 400th anniversary in 2009. Progress in telescopic astronomy would have come to a grinding halt in the second half of the twentieth century if it weren't for the digital revolution. Powerful computers have enabled a wealth of new technologies that have resulted in the construction of giant telescopes, perched on high mountaintops with monolithic or segmented mirrors as large as swimming pools. Astronomers have even devised clever ways of undoing the distorting effects of atmospheric turbulence and of combining individual telescope mirrors into virtual behemoths with unsurpassed eyesight. The optical wizardry of 21st century telescope building has ushered in a completely new era of ground-based astronomical discovery.

  • S02E09 Special: From Silver to Silicon

    • November 13, 2008

    In this new Hubblecast episode, Dr. J guides us through the fourth chapter of Eyes on the Skies, the International Astronomical Union's movie celebrating the telescope on its 400th anniversary in 2009. Observing the Universe through the eyepiece of a telescope is one thing, but recording the observations for posterity is something quite different. Originally astronomers used pen and paper to draw what they saw, but the human eye is a lousy detector and our brain can play tricks on us. Astrophotography, first explored in the mid-nineteenth century, has proved to be a powerful, objective way of recording telescopic images with the advantage that long exposures revealed much more than the eye could ever see. But the true revolution arrived with electronic detectors and digital image processing.

  • S02E10 Hubble directly observes planet orbiting Fomalhaut

    • November 13, 2008

  • S02E11 Special: Seeing the invisible

    • November 25, 2008

    In this new Hubblecast episode, Dr. J guides us through the fifth chapter of Eyes on the Skies, the International Astronomical Union's movie celebrating the telescope on its 400th anniversary in 2009. The Universe is a black void, with a scattering of stars, nebulae and galaxies – or so it appears to observers using visible light. But if we include other forms of radiation invisible to us, the picture changes completely: clouds of interstellar hydrogen gas, emitting radio waves; stellar nurseries, glowing in the infrared; explosive outbursts of gamma rays and the all-sky background hiss of the Big Bang, diluted by almost fourteen billion years of cosmic expansion. So how do astronomers learn about the unseen Universe? By building telescopes and detectors that can see the invisible. Watch this Hubblecast episode and find out more.

  • S02E12 Special: Beyond Earth

    • December 11, 2008

    In this new Hubblecast episode, Dr. J guides us through the sixth chapter of Eyes on the Skies, the International Astronomical Union's movie celebrating the telescope on its 400th anniversary in 2009. There's no better place for a telescope than space itself. Above the Earth's atmosphere observations are no longer hampered by air turbulence, so telescopic images of distant stars and galaxies are razor-sharp. Unlike a ground-based telescope, an instrument in Earth orbit can operate twenty-four hours a day and reach every part of the sky. Observing from space also makes it possible to study types of radiation that are otherwise absorbed by the atmosphere. Little wonder that the Hubble Space Telescope has made so many contributions to astronomy. And Hubble is not alone — more than 100 space observatories have been launched since the 1960s.Watch this Hubblecast episode and find out more.

  • S02E13 Special: What's Next?

    • December 15, 2008

    In this new Hubblecast Special episode, Dr. J guides us through the seventh chapter of Eyes on the Skies, the International Astronomical Union's movie celebrating the telescope's 400th anniversary in 2009. The telescope has been mankind's window on the Universe for four hundred years. It has provided scientists with unprecedented views of planets, stars and galaxies from our cosmic doorstep to the very depths of space and time. But despite their incredible performance, even the newest and most powerful telescopes leave room for improvement. Astronomers always want to venture beyond their current horizons. In this final chapter we take a look at things to come — the revolutionary ground-based telescopes and space observatories of the future. One thing is certain: there is much left to discover.

Season 3

Season 4

Season 5

Season 6

  • S06E01 The Death of Stars

    • January 17, 2012

  • S06E02 Hidden Treasures in Hubble's Archive

    • March 27, 2012

  • S06E03 22 years in images

    • April 17, 2012

  • S06E04 Crash of the Titans

    • May 31, 2012

  • S06E05 Dramatic change spotted on a faraway planet

    • June 28, 2012

    In this episode of the Hubblecast, Dr J (aka Dr Joe Liske) presents the latest discovery about HD 189733b, an exoplanet that has been repeatedly studied by Hubble. Observations taken in 2011 using Hubble and the Swift satellite showed a flare from the planet’s parent star scorching the upper atmosphere and driving it off into space. This is the first time that clear change has been observed in an exoplanet’s atmosphere. The observations give a tantalising glimpse of changing weather on planets outside our Solar System.

  • S06E06 Hubble's hidden treasures unveiled

    • August 23, 2012

    In this episode of the Hubblecast, Joe Liske (aka Dr J) presents the winners of the Hidden Treasures image processing competition. In May 2012, we asked members of the public to delve into Hubble's vast science archive to uncover pictures that had never been seen outside of the scientific community — and then to try their hand at processing the scientific data into attractive images.

  • S06E07 Caught in the cosmic web

    • October 16, 2012

  • S06E08 Unweaving the rainbow

    • November 12, 2012

    In this episode of the Hubblecast, we do away with Hubble’s stunning pictures of the cosmos, and focus on one of the telescope’s most important — but least known — functions. Like a digital camera, Hubble’s cameras produce colour images by sampling just a handful of colours and combining them together into one picture. The detail is extraordinary — but while the colours are accurate enough for the human eye, they are not good enough for some kinds of scientific work, such as the study of distant galaxies and extrasolar planets. For much of their research, astronomers use Hubble’s spectrometers, devices that split up light into a rainbow of component colours, to reveal many of the hidden properties of the Universe. These observing methods may not produce attractive images, but they lie behind some of the most profound science that Hubble does. In this episode, presenter Joe Liske (aka Dr J) and Hubble astronomer Bob Fosbury give a introduction to spectroscopy using Hubble, how it works, and what it’s for.

  • S06E09 Galaxy scores a bullseye

    • December 6, 2012

  • S06E10 A Tour of NGC 5189

    • December 18, 2012

Season 7

  • S07E01 A spiral galaxy with a secret

    • February 5, 2013

  • S07E02 From the distant past - Hubble and art

    • March 6, 2013

  • S07E03 It all ends with a bang!

    • April 3, 2013

  • S07E04 A whole new view of the Horsehead Nebula - celebrating Hubble's 23rd birthday

    • April 19, 2013

  • S07E05 Hubble uncovers the secrets of the Ring Nebula

    • May 23, 2013

    Episode 66 of the Hubblecast explores the Ring Nebula (Messier 57). Although this nebula is one of the most famous objects in our skies, more than 200 years after its discovery astronomers are still unveiling some of its secrets. The Ring Nebula was discovered in the late 18th century, but its true shape and structure has remained unclear. Now, a team of astronomers has used the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, alongside existing ground-based data, to explore the Ring Nebula in depth. The astronomers wanted to better understand the nebula’s structure, evolution, physical conditions, and motion — and it turns out that the Ring Nebula is not actually very ring-shaped after all. Hubblecast 66 showcases stunning new Hubble images of this beautiful object, showing the bright, colourful centre of the nebula, and the dramatically turbulent space that surrounds it.

  • S07E06 Of galaxies and penguins - Arp 142

    • June 20, 2013

  • S07E07 The Hubble time machine

    • August 30, 2013

  • S07E08 What has Hubble learned from star clusters?

    • November 14, 2013

    The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has observed many star clusters. As well as being scientifically interesting, these clusters produce stunning images, appearing like sparkling baubles in the sky. This episode of the Hubblecast looks at how Hubble has studied and imaged these beautiful objects, also introducing a striking new image of Messier 15, one of the oldest globular clusters in our skies. This is the best ever image of this cluster, which contains over 100 000 stars, a planetary nebula known as Pease 1 (otherwise named PN Ku 648 or Kürster 648), and something more exotic: at its core, it is thought to host a rare type of black hole.

  • S07E09 Peering around cosmic corners

    • December 6, 2013

  • S07E10 Visible echoes around RS Puppis

    • December 17, 2013

Season 8

Season 9

Season 10

Season 11

Season 12

Season 13

  • S13E01 Light: Triangulum Galaxy in unrivalled detail

    • January 7, 2019

  • S13E02 Henrietta Leavitt — ahead of her time

    • February 20, 2019

    Born in 1868, Henrietta Leavitt was an astronomer ahead of her time, whose work helped to revolutionise our understanding of the Universe. While working at Harvard Observatory, she began to study stars of fluctuating brightness. She made a crucial observation about these objects, which gave astronomers a new way to measure distances, ultimately leading to such impactful discoveries as the expansion of the Universe.

  • S13E03 Light: Hubble & Gaia weigh the Milky Way

    • March 7, 2019

    Measurements from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope and the ESA Gaia mission have been combined to improve he estimate of the mass of our home galaxy the Milky Way: 1.5 trillion solar masses.

  • S13E04 How the first stars transformed the Universe

    • April 3, 2019

    Right after the Universe started with the Big Bang, the cosmos was dark. Only the first stars created millions of years later brought light. These first stars and their radiation drastically changed the Universe during what is known as the epoch of reionisation. This Hubblecasts talks about this important time, what Hubble has shown us so far, the open questions and what we can expect from future missions.

  • S13E05 Hubble’s 29th anniversary

    • April 18, 2019

    On 18 April 2019 Hubble is celebrating its 29th year in space. For this anniversary NASA and ESA dedicated a small amount of its precious observation time to take a look at the beautiful Southern Crab Nebula. This beautiful nebula is created by the ejected material of a red giant, which is in close interaction with a white dwarf star.

  • S13E06 Light: Continued Discrepancy in the Universe's Expansion Rate

    • April 25, 2019

    Measurements of today's expansion rate do not match the rate that was expected based on how the Universe appeared shortly after the Big Bang over 13 billion years ago. Using new data from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers have significantly lowered the possibility that this discrepancy is a fluke.

  • S13E07 What can we learn from exoplanet transits?

    • June 12, 2019

    This new Hubblecast episode explores what we can learn through the transits of exoplanets. It also tells us what we have learned from these transits with the help of Hubble and which discoveries we can expect with the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope.

  • S13E08 Light: The Evolution of Eta Carinae

    • July 1, 2019

    This Hubblecast explores the various observations the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has made of the Eta Carinae in various wavelengths.

  • S13E09 Light: Jupiter’s Great Red Spot

    • August 8, 2019

    This video highlights Jupiter’s trademark spot and observations made of the feature by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope that demonstrate that the spot has shrunk over time.

  • S13E10 Light: Exoplanet K2-18b

    • September 11, 2019

    This Hubblecast Light highlights the exciting discovery of the first water detected on a potentially habitable planet. With data from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, water vapour has been detected in the atmosphere of a super-Earth with habitable temperatures by University College Longon (UCL) researchers.

  • S13E11 Light: Hubble Studies High-Energy Gamma Ray Burst

    • November 11, 2019

    New observations from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have investigated the nature of the powerful gamma-ray burst GRB 190114C by studying its environment. Hubble’s observations suggest that this particular burst displayed such powerful emission because the collapsing star was sitting in a very dense environment, right in the middle of a bright galaxy 5 billion light years away.