{"id":925623,"date":"2026-04-29T05:15:19","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T05:15:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/925623\/"},"modified":"2026-04-29T05:15:19","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T05:15:19","slug":"satellite-captures-rare-view-of-hubble-space-telescope-on-its-36th-birthday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/925623\/","title":{"rendered":"Satellite Captures Rare View of Hubble Space Telescope on its 36th Birthday"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img data-perfmatters-preload=\"\" fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Hubble-Space-Telescope-36th-Birthday1-800x800.jpeg\" alt=\"A satellite with four solar panels and a cylindrical body orbits in space against a blurred backdrop; its metallic structure and details are clearly visible.\" width=\"800\" height=\"800\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-851758\"  \/><\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s famous for picturing far-off galaxies, redefining how the public sees the Universe, but as the Hubble Space Telescope turns 36, another satellite has snapped a birthday photo showing Hubble in all its glory.<\/p>\n<p>Vantor used one of its satellites as it passed Hubble while 62 kilometers away (38 miles) to capture a rarely-seen view of a space icon. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cCollected on April 23, 2026, by one of Vantor\u2019s WorldView Legion satellites, this remarkable non-Earth image showcases Hubble from just 61.8 km away \u2014 an incredible perspective of one of humanity\u2019s most iconic scientific instruments,\u201d Vantor<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/vantortech\/status\/2047684618640335086?\" data-wpel-link=\"external\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"follow external noopener nofollow\"> writes on X<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWith a space sample distance of 4.0 cm, Hubble\u2019s signature cylindrical body, gleaming thermal shielding, and extended solar arrays are clearly visible, along with the open aperture door at the front of the telescope.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Hubble turned 36 on April 24, the day Vantor shared the post. \u201cFor over three decades, Hubble has expanded our understanding of the Universe \u2014 delivering breathtaking imagery and groundbreaking science that continue to inspire,\u201d Vantor says glowingly. <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Celebrating 36 years of discovery with the Hubble Space Telescope \ud83d\udd2d<\/p>\n<p>Collected on April 23, 2026, by one of Vantor&#8217;s WorldView Legion satellites, this remarkable non-Earth image showcases Hubble from just 61.8 km away\u2014an incredible perspective of one of humanity\u2019s most iconic\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/pCfyWgCzAS\" data-wpel-link=\"external\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"follow external noopener nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/pCfyWgCzAS<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Vantor (@vantortech) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/vantortech\/status\/2047684618640335086?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" data-wpel-link=\"external\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"follow external noopener nofollow\">April 24, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.space.com\/astronomy\/hubble-space-telescope\/satellite-snaps-amazing-36th-birthday-pic-of-hubble-space-telescope-photo\" data-wpel-link=\"external\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"follow external noopener nofollow\">Space.com notes<\/a> that Vantor operates six WorldView Legion satellites that orbit at roughly 322 miles above the Earth. For reference, the International Space Station flies around 70 miles lower, 250 miles above terra firma.<\/p>\n<p>Despite being hundreds of miles above Earth, the Vantor WorldView Legion satellites can resolve objects on Earth as small as 11.8 inches (30 centimeters). The Hubble shot was captured by WorldView Legion 4.<\/p>\n<p> Twilight of its Life <\/p>\n<p>Launched aboard the space shuttle Discovery in 1990, Hubble has been a huge success; although it has <a href=\"https:\/\/petapixel.com\/2024\/06\/05\/nasas-hubble-space-telescope-is-having-difficulties\/\" data-wpel-link=\"internal\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">shown signs of old age<\/a> in recent years.  Nevertheless, it continues to send home <a href=\"https:\/\/petapixel.com\/2025\/04\/24\/the-best-photos-from-hubbles-35th-year-in-space\/\" data-wpel-link=\"internal\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">sensational photos<\/a>, including joining forces with the James Webb Space Telescope to capture <a href=\"https:\/\/petapixel.com\/2026\/03\/26\/youve-never-seen-saturn-like-this\/\" data-wpel-link=\"internal\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">jaw-dropping views of Saturn<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>Last week, PetaPixel reported on the <a href=\"https:\/\/petapixel.com\/2026\/04\/22\/roman-hubbles-300-megapixel-successor-will-map-the-universe\/\" data-wpel-link=\"internal\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope<\/a>, which is expected to pick up from the Hubble Space Telescope. NASA administrator Jared Isaacman said that what would have taken Hubble 2,000 years to capture and process, Roman will do in a single year. Roman will send 11 terabytes of data to Earth every single day.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Image credits:<\/strong> Vantor<\/p>\n<p>      <script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s famous for picturing far-off galaxies, redefining how the public sees the Universe, but as the Hubble Space&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":925624,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3844],"tags":[26969,259261,874,21334,70,413,1163,16,15],"class_list":["post-925623","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-hubble","tag-nancygraceromanspacetelescope","tag-nasa","tag-satellite","tag-science","tag-space","tag-spacetelescope","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116486297513739093","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/925623","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=925623"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/925623\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/925624"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=925623"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=925623"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=925623"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}