NASA lets you see what photo the hubble telescope captured on your birthday

to mark the 30th birthday of the hubble space telescope, which has been orbiting the earth for almost three decades, NASA has launched a new feature on its website allows you to see out-of-this-world photo hubble captured on your birthday. the hubble space telescope has been taking pictures of planets, stars and galaxies 24 hours a day, seven days a week, since 1990.

images courtesy of NASA

hubble provides views of deep space, by collecting more light than the human eye can see on its own. it does so using a mirror that’s 94.5 inches in diameter, which is smaller than most earth-based telescopes. however, hubble’s location — in low-orbit beyond our atmosphere — gives it remarkable clarity.

launched on april 24, 1990, aboard the space shuttle discovery, hubble is currently located about 340 miles (547 km) above earth’s surface, where it completes 15 orbits per day — approximately one every 95 minutes. the satellite moves at the speed of about five miles (8 km) per second, fast enough to travel across the united states in about 10 minutes.

with the new feature, you might not necessarily see what it captured on the exact year you were born, but it will show you the most interesting photo taken on your birth date. once input, the feature gives you the most interesting photo taken in the telescope’s history. so although you might have been born in 1990, you might get a result from 1995, for instance.