100,000th orbit for Hubble Space Telescope

The Hubble Space Telescope marked another historic landmark today as
it completed its 100,000th orbit.

In commemoration of this achievement, scientists aimed Hubble to take
a snapshot of a dazzling region of celestial birth and renewal. Hubble
peered into a small portion of the Tarantula nebula near the star
cluster NGC 2074. The region is a firestorm of raw stellar creation,
perhaps triggered by a nearby supernova explosion. It lies about
170,000 light-years away and is one of the most active star-forming
regions in our local group of galaxies.

The region is in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite of our Milky
Way galaxy. It is a fascinating laboratory for observing star-
formation regions and their evolution. Dwarf galaxies like the Large
Magellanic Cloud are considered to be the primitive building blocks of
larger galaxies.

"This morning, the greatest scientific instrument since Galileo's
telescope has reached another great milestone - its 100,000th orbit
around the Earth," stated Senator Barbara A. Mikulski, D-Md.,
chairwoman of the Commerce, Justice and Science Appropriations
Subcommittee that funds NASA. "Hubble has given us amazing insight
into the origins of our universe, and I'm so proud of the men and
women at Goddard and the Space Telescope Science Institute for their
contributions and dedication to these great discoveries. The entire
world is looking forward to the Hubble servicing mission in October
2008, when Hubble will get new scientific instruments, new batteries
and new gyroscopes. The servicing mission will extend Hubble's life
and give it a more powerful view of our universe. Hubble is the
telescope that could, and its best years are ahead of it!"

To see the photo taken during Hubble's 100,000th orbit of Earth,
visit: http://www.nasa.gov/hubble .