Hubble turns 35: 7 stunning cosmic photos clicked by the NASA space telescope

The European Space Agency (ESA) recently shared a photo of the dazzling young star cluster NGC 346. This vibrant star-forming factory lies in the Small Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way located 200,000 light-years away in the constellation Tucana.

This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image looks like a portal to another world, but it shows clouds of ionised atoms thrown into space by a dying star. This is a planetary nebula named Kohoutek 4-55, ESA said, and was spotted in the Milky Way galaxy 4,600 light-years away in the constellation Cygnus (the Swan).

In its 25th year, the several parts of Hubble photos were put together to create a bird's-eye view of a portion of the Andromeda galaxy. This was the sharpest large composite image taken of our neighbouring galaxy, which is gearing up to clash with the Milky Way.

In its 26th year, Hubble clicked a newborn star shooting twin jets out into space. This turbulent starbirth region is known as the Orion B molecular cloud complex, located about 1,350 light-years away. NASA described the photo as a celestial "lightsaber".

This photo shows the globular cluster M15, a spectacular swarm of stars. Located some 35,000 light-years away in the constellation of Pegasus (The Winged Horse), it is one of the densest globular clusters ever discovered.

This is a spiral galaxy that Hubble snapped in its 22nd year. NGC 2841 is a spiral galaxy that resides 46 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major. The photo shows dust lanes and a population of whitish middle-aged stars.

This photo shows a young cluster of stars surrounded by interstellar gas and dust. The nebula is located 20,000 light-years away in the constellation Carina. NGC 3603 contains some of the most massive stars known.