A big, bright, bouncy birthday…

Just a short message, which I am sure you will all appreciate nonetheless. The Hubble Space Telescope has just turned 11. That's 11 years of mostly flawless operation - except for that early bit where the thing seemed like a galactic waste of money.

Just a short message, which I am sure you will all appreciate nonetheless. The Hubble Space Telescope has just turned 11. That's 11 years of mostly flawless operation - except for that early bit where the thing seemed like a galactic waste of money. Nonetheless, Hubble has given us unprecedented views of our universe, snapshots of time and space that boggle the mind and unlock astronomical secrets; and it's given us some pretty cool PC wallpaper to boot.

By popular Internet demand the HST took a photo of the Horsehead Nebula to celebrate its 11th birthday. Check out the pic and the official Hubble site here.