The world according to the Hubble Space Telescope

Abstract

The Hubble Space Telescope (HST), in its thirteen years of operation, has allowed us to observe properties of the universe humans have been able, until very recently, to probe only with their thoughts. This review presents a brief summary of a few of the highlights of HST discoveries, discusses their physical implications, and identifies unsolved problems. A broad range of topics is covered, from our own solar system to cosmology. The topics fall into the general categories of: planets (including both in the solar system and extrasolar), stellar evolution, black holes (including both of stellar-mass and supermassive), galaxy formation and evolution, the determination of cosmological parameters, and the nature of the recently discovered ``dark energy.''