Eagle Nebula
The Hubble orbits at around 370 miles above earth. Unlike previous telescopes, it can make digital photographs using light visible to the naked eye. And since it orbits above the earth's atmosphere, its photos are not obscured by smog, haze or light. For Jeff Hester, the astronomer responsible for this photo of the Eagle Nebula, taken just a few years after the telescope's first service mission, the image represents "the recovery of Hubble and the dreams that had originally accompanied its launch."

• A Brief History of the Hubble Space Telescope
• Eathrise: Iconic Images of Earth from Space