Hubble's birthday and a contest

Hubble (the Space Telescope!) celebrates 20 years in orbit today... yep, it was 1990 when they kicked this bus-sized observatory out in space, although it was not until late 1993 that it started delivering "pretty pictures", due to a sperical aberration in the mirror which had to be fixed via a manned servicing mission.

But then, it was like a bullet set free: the nineties of last century were literally flooded with Hubble images, which went all the way from science magazines to all sort of products, ranging from desktop screensavers to super-cool animations in sci-fi movies, and so on... I was a teenager in those years (and kind of a "star-struck" one must I add) so I remember that pretty well, and I have no hesitation (although I did not study art nor communication) to state that Hubble images have largely affected the field of graphic design and, at the same time, the very perception of the Universe to the general public's eye.

That's why I'm promoting this contest, launched in honour of Hubble's 20th: search for Hubble images in popular culture and how they contributed shaping it. I find it pretty cool. Well, I must add I had quite a say in the whole thing... ;-) but I really think it will be nice, in the end, to look at all the funny pics collected by people all around the world.

If you're interested in the inter-connection between astronomy, science and popular culture, have a look at these two articles on related issues from The Guardian:
Art: the final frontier - 1st February, 2010
How science became cool - 13th April, 2010

In the image, likely Hubble's most iconic shot, are the so-called "pillars of creation", huge structures of gas and dust, in the Eagle Nebula, where newborn stars come to life. I must shyly admit this was my first desktop background in the late 1990s...
Credits: Jeff Hester and Paul Scowen (Arizona State University), and NASA/ESA.