The Hubble Space Telescope turns 36 this year. And to celebrate, he released an incredible new image of the Trifid Nebula.
By Jackie Flynn Mogensen edited by Claire Cameron
A Hubble Space Telescope image of the Trifid Nebula in 2026.
NASA/ESA/STScI/Joseph DePasquale/STScI
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Sometimes it’s worth going back to places you’ve been before. This is certainly the case for NASA Hubble Space Telescopewho has just published a new ethereal image of a strange formation the agency calls a “Cosmic Sea Lemon” or a “Cosmic Sea Slug” hidden inside a stellar nursery some 5,000 light years away.
Hubble has seen this formation before. In 1997, the telescope photography the gaseous region inside the Trifid Nebulawhich is located in the constellation Sagittarius.
Astronomers decided to recreate the original Hubble image in honor of the 36th anniversary of space telescope launch on April 24, 1990. In the new photograph, the Trifid nebula is still cloudy, but there are some main differences between the two images.
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Images of the Trifid Nebula taken in 2026 (LEFT) and 1997 (RIGHT).
NASA/ESA/STScI/Joseph DePasquale/STScI/Jeff Hester/Arizona State University
The formation’s “horn” – a jet of plasma expelled by a protostar – is now significantly longer than it was nearly three decades ago. And an orange and red bar along the Cosmic Sea Lemon’s “body” appears to have extended to the right. These subtle changes could help researchers better understand how stars form in a particularly active stellar nursery.
The image is also a powerful reminder of how far Hubble has come. The space telescope was initially expected to operate for about 15 years. But thanks to a few refinements, NASA I expect this to continue capture images of the universe until at least the mid-2030s.
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