Pictures: Hubble Space Telescope's top pics of space

Hubble Space Telescope image - towers of gas and dust rising from a stellar nursery called the Eagle Nebula — Image caption,
The Hubble Space Telescope was launched in 1990 and has taken more than 1 million incredible images from space. This one shows towers of gas and dust as new stars are formed.

Hubble Space Telescope image - dust coming from a red supergiant star called V838 Monocerotis

The telescope orbits about 350 miles above Earth. This spectacular shot shows dust coming from a red supergiant star called V838 Monocerotis.

Hubble Space Telescope image - blue stars surrounded by warm, glowing clouds in a nearby stellar nursery

Hundreds of bright blue stars are cuddled by warm, glowing clouds. They were snapped in a neighbouring galaxy to ours.

Hubble Space Telescope image - Cone Nebula

This nightmarish gas and dust cloud was snapped in 2002. It's called the Cone Nebula because it's shaped like a cone!

Hubble Space Telescope image - Hubble Ultra Deep Field showing 10,000 galaxies

This picture is called the Hubble Ultra Deep Field and shows a whopping 10,000 galaxies of different sizes and ages. It includes some of the most distant galaxies ever seen - they're the smallest, reddest ones.

Hubble Space Telescope image - two galaxies smashing together

Two galaxies are shown smashing into each other. As they merge, billions of stars are born.

Hubble Space Telescope image - Whirlpool Galaxy

This one looks a bit like a hurricane - its name is M51, but is also known as the Whirlpool Galaxy.