The Hubble Heritage Project was founded by a group of astronomers in 1998. The team releases on an almost monthly basis pictures of celestial objects like planets, stars, galaxies and galaxy clusters.
A team of astronomers and image processing specialists selects images from the Hubble Space Telescope's public data archive, which are usually only shared within the astronomical community. Because most of the photos were taken for scientific reasons they often lack sufficient exposure across a range of colors. A small amount of observation time with the Hubble Space Telescope has been granted to the team to fill in the gaps in these images.
The Project has been recognized for its contribution to public inspiration in producing some of the most aesthetically pleasing images ever produced in astronomy. Achievements for the team include the Astronomical Society of the Pacific 2003 Klumpke-Roberts Award for "outstanding contributions to the public understanding and appreciation of astronomy." In 2002, two Heritage images were selected in the Rochester Institute of Technology's "Images From Science" traveling gallery exhibit. Several images have been selected by the US and UK postal systems. In 2000, a first-class US postage stamp showing the Ring Nebula was one of five Hubble images selected to be part of a commemorative series of stamps honoring astronomer Edwin P. Hubble.
The website of the project contains a lot of information about the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, including a lot of interesting images taken by the Hubble, and information about the future of Hubble. The images on the site are the most notable ones taken by Hubble, and are specifically enhanced with color for release to the public. They are available in different formats, including as computer wallpapers.
Famous quotes containing the words heritage and/or project:
“It seems to me that upbringings have themes. The parents set the theme, either explicitly or implicitly, and the children pick it up, sometimes accurately and sometimes not so accurately.... The theme may be “Our family has a distinguished heritage that you must live up to” or “No matter what happens, we are fortunate to be together in this lovely corner of the earth” or “We have worked hard so that you can have the opportunities we didn’t have.””
—Calvin Trillin (20th century)
“She cannot love,
Nor take no shape nor project of affection,
She is so self-endeared.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)