Hubble: 15 Years of Discovery

Hubble images come to vast, interactive life in this IMAX movie, “Hubble,” that takes audiences through the telescope’s history and puts them in orbit with astronauts during the latest servicing mission.

The film’s goal is to make viewers feel as though they are voyaging through the cosmos, seeing through Hubble’s eyes, and peering over the shoulders of astronauts as they work on the telescope – providing an intimacy and immediacy beyond the reach of static images.

The astronomy visualization team at STScI shows how the Hubble images were created.

Groundbreaking astronomy visualizations, which allow viewers to soar through objects like the Orion and Eagle nebulae, past stars and embryonic solar systems, were the result of efforts by a group of specialists at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI).

The team, led by Dr. Frank Summers, drew on the artistic talents of Greg Bacon, Zolt Levay and Lisa Frattare, and the science expertise of Dr. Massimo Roberto and Dr. Jay Anderson. Together they created the Orion Nebula model, developed a way to split the Carina Nebula into layers for viewing, and created synthetic star fields from Hubble photos, among other feats.