The Hubble Space Telescope launched on April 24, 1990, aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery (STS-31), and deployed into Earth orbit the following day, marking the beginning of its 35 years of exploring the cosmos. CREDIT: NASA.

In the years since, Hubble has gathered more than 1.6 million observations and 430 terabytes of data. The telescope has revealed that supermassive black holes nestle at the heart of most large galaxies,

The image was published as part of the 35th anniversary celebrations of the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, which was launched into orbit in April 1990. The Sombrero Galaxy is a fan-favorite of many an amateur astronomer and "an eye-catching target for Hubble," notes the ESA in a statement.