Hubble Space Telescope images recreated in LEGO
Posted by Huw,
LEGO replicas of famous Hubble Space Telescope images are going to be displayed in brand stores across the world, and instructions to enable you to recreate them yourself are available at LEGO.com. Here's the press release:
LEGO RECREATES FAMOUS “PILLARS OF CREATION” IMAGE FROM THE HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE IN LEGO FORM
Inspirational 3D models to be displayed in over 150 LEGO Stores worldwide
14th April 2021: As part of the LEGO Go Beyond space campaign, images from the famous Hubble Space Telescope have been recreated in LEGO bricks and unveiled in 168 LEGO stores across the globe.
The campaign kicked off with the launch of the LEGO NASA Space Shuttle Discovery last month, which features both the shuttle and famous Hubble Space Telescope.
Ideal for adult builders, the new set is a detailed recreation of the STS-31 mission which launched in 1990 and saw the Discovery space Shuttle and its five crew members launch the Hubble Space Telescope into the cosmos. Ever since, the Hubble Space Telescope has shared wondrous images of deep space, leading to breakthroughs in astrophysics and space exploration.
The LEGO Group has taken three variations of the famous Pillars of Creation image and recreated them as 20x20” multi-dimensional brick works of art in the style of bas-relief to feature in LEGO stores. Brick lovers will also be able to recreate their own versions at home, thanks to instructions hosted on LEGO.com/gobeyond.
The aptly named Pillars of Creation, captured by the Hubble Space Telescope, are part of an active star-forming region within the nebula and hide newborn stars in their wispy columns.
Former NASA astronaut, Dr. Kathy Sullivan, who was part of the original STS-31 mission, who took part in an exclusive Q&A www.lego.com/gobeyond for the launch of the new LEGO space set, also discussed her favourite Hubble images: “There are so many spectacular images that the Hubble Space Telescope has been able to capture over the years. Some of my favourites include the Ultra Deep Field, which looked at a small patch of sky and found endless galaxies; The Light Echo, which captures the reverberation of light through space caused by the outburst of a star; and Pillars of Creation, as it looks at a region where stars are being born. What the telescope has been able to capture over the years is truly extraordinary.”
The 3D structures will be in selected LEGO stores worldwide from 18th April and available to view on Lego.com/gobeyond, where you can also sign up to LEGO VIP to view the full interview with Former NASA Astronaut Dr. Sullivan about the original ST-13 mission and deployment of the Hubble Space Telescope.
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43 comments on this article
Ok, now thats really freaking cool
These give me LEGO Ideas Starry Night vibes. They also look like Brick Sketches except much bigger.
Just rub it in, go on.
Bring more space related stuff to frustrate every one who missed out on the Ulysses probe this morning.
I really like how they mixed 2D/3D to capture the shapes and make certain features pop out.
Makes me really look forward to the lego ideas starry night
I link them as the artistic pieces they are, buy they don't translate well for me. YMMV, of course, and I'm glad to see people enjoy them.
A neat idea, however had I not seen the subject image I would think they are simply "art"...
the mosaic's (in 3D) would be a very neat product line if done for famous scenery that is instantly recognizable...
That’s how LEGO Art sets should have been.
Far better then just having nothing but thousands of boring 1x1 pieces.
I LOVE the concept of Lego murals. Not so much The Beatles, etc., but MOC murals. I think this is really cool stuff...and where I am trending with regards to this hobby.
I don’t really like the design of that, to be quite honest.
Another failure. There is a small version of these mosaics with some text underneath stating:
"Bring the universe home
Download instructions to build a miniature version of a Hubble image yourself"
Yet there's no "Download" URL.
@zux said:
"Another failure. There is a small version of these mosaics with some text underneath stating:
"Bring the universe home
Download instructions to build a miniature version of a Hubble image yourself"
Yet there's no "Download" URL."
I was bout say same thing. Anyone got links somewhere we can download?
These look interesting. I like these kinds of mosaics better than the official LEGO Art ones - the extra height/3D really adds someting...
Looks unbelievably underwhelming, no one would know what it is before being told so.
They look terrible imo. Maybe fantastic in person but as a 2D image from above? Nah.
According to the bottom of this page (LEGO.com/gobeyond) the instructions (which there is actually no link to yet) are only for a 'miniature version', not the ones being shown in stores: "Download instructions to build a miniature version of a Hubble image yourself". Not cool.
The large mosaic pictured above looks really good. The 'miniature version' with instructions you can allegedly download (there's no link) looks utterly rubbish.
@zux said:
"Another failure. There is a small version of these mosaics with some text underneath stating:
"Bring the universe home
Download instructions to build a miniature version of a Hubble image yourself"
Yet there's no "Download" URL."
Same in Australia, no download option for the place it says to download. Lego really is have a gold standard day with their website!
Now if they’d start doing the lego art sets like this with much more than just studs... the 3-d effect is pretty cool. Although it does kinda just look more abstract than anything.
@AustinPowers:
The good news is that this ties in to the Hubble, which is already packaged with the Discovery orbiter. The Ulysses has nothing to do with these. The bad news is, trying to actually build these may be an even more expensive prospect than buying a second-hand Ulysses. At first, I wondered if they would announce that you could build these by buying some of the mosaic sets, but I'm seeing wedge plates in there. Building these would require either a very extensive collection, or a very large Bricklink purchase. And the more that people try to build them, the more expensive it will be to purchase the needed parts.
@Antoine_23 said:
"Awesome! Question: how is it that the Hubble telescope isn’t a official model yet ?"
It's already been in 7470 and 10283
@fakespacesquid:
Huh. I saw that model in person the second time I went to NYTF, and never realized it was deploying the Hubble, or that it had been designated as a particular mission. All I really remember is being irritated that the landing gear left visible slots in the wings when lowered. I never had any interest in buying it, after that. The big Mars rover, I did want, but never managed to be able to afford, due to how much of my paycheck was going to Bionicle and Star Wars sets at the time.
Cool art. I would be tempted to build the regular size if the instructions were available but not interested in a mini version.
These would be neat as a new mosaic series
@CCC said:
"They should do a heat map of anger caused by the VIP program. As seen from space.
"
So, a red baseplate?
wow
I was absolutely amazed when I saw the first Hubble images but later discovered they're actually 'false' colour which was a serious disappointment at the time! The Pillars of Creation above are almost recognisable if you squint a bit, but the left and middle ones should have used a greater amount of reddish-brown & dark orange - there's far too much dark blue. If they could fix that and made it available for purchase, I'd buy it in a heartbeat. Perhaps they could do a larger version of Andromeda - now that would be special.
Interesting, but I'd really rather have the Ulysses set. I'm not into the Art series, especially given their unavoidable expense.
@PurpleDave : the Discovery would have been my order to redeem the Ulysses code. As I didn't manage to get the latter I am not going to reward LEGO by purchasing the former. I'll stick with my Saturn V which in my book is the far better set anyway.
@karmajay:
Oh, wow. I hadn't even looked at the website. All I see is one image of the main Pillars in a 12x12 vignette, and no link to the instructions or images of the other two builds. The one I see is hardly recognizable, but maybe one of the others would look better. Frankly, there are Hubble images that would translate a lot better at such a small scale, but may not have seemed as interesting to build a giant plate of. Look up the Ring Nebula, the Spirograph Nebula, the Inky Abyss, the Crab of the Southern Sky, the Twin Jet Nubula, the Hourglass Nebula, Einstein Revisited, Fomalhaut, the Helix Nebula, NGC 6302, IC beauty, Snapshot of a Shedding Star, NGC 6826, Beta Pictoris, Vermin Galaxy, the Cat's Eye Nebula, Eta Carinae, He 2-47, the Red Rectangle, NGC 1512 (there's a set of seven images ranging from IR to UV that would look cool as a set), Comet Hale-Bopp, NGC 3242, The Pluto System (Feb 25, 2006), Sunset on Saturn's Rings, Nova Cygni 1992, or "Death Star". The problem is, there are only a few Hubble images that are really famous, and the Pillars of Creation shots are usually at the top of the list.
@Lobot:
It's a composite image, not a false image. Spitzer worked in IR, Compton in gamma rays, and Chandra handles X-rays. Hubble was almost exclusively about visible light. However, there's a trick to it. Due to the extreme distance, it only transmitted B/W images. What they'd get, however, is a series of images. Each image would show a single wavelength of color. When they get the images back, they convert each one to the matching color, and then composite them together into a final image. But it's still an image of what you'd see in the visible light spectrum (except when they add in IR and UV).
@Lamarider said:
"Looks unbelievably underwhelming, no one would know what it is before being told so."
Yeah it looks like the Hubble took the picture with a Nintendo Gameboy camera.
*jaw drops*
That is the coolest space-themed Lego build I have ever seen, because it's actually of space this time, and not rocket ships.
@fakespacesquid said:
" @Antoine_23 said:
"Awesome! Question: how is it that the Hubble telescope isn’t a official model yet ?"
It's already been in 7470 and 10283"
Also 21312
Will these be in the LEGO Art line? They’re really good.
I love the first one to be honest.
These are created on something like Bricklink’s digital creator, right? They’re 3-D rendered it seems, does anyone have info on this?
@Spidermanager:
The LEGO Company has its own suite of proprietary design software, which they use for set design, instructions generation, and the creation of the images used on packaging. So, they absolutely can do CGI renders like this, but the don't need anything Bricklink created to do it.
Maybe not a popular comment, and contrary to other’s comments, but I think I would have preferred for these to be flat mosaics like the current art line.
I understand why they’ve done it, to increase the detail, but I’m thinking it’s going to be a expensive Bricklink order to actually make one.
@PurpleDave said:
" @Spidermanager:
The LEGO Company has its own suite of proprietary design software, which they use for set design, instructions generation, and the creation of the images used on packaging. So, they absolutely can do CGI renders like this, but the don't need anything Bricklink created to do it."
Thanks for the info! For some reason it didn’t cross my mind that the same software used for set design would be used :P
@PurpleDave said:
" @Lobot:
It's a composite image, not a false image. Spitzer worked in IR, Compton in gamma rays, and Chandra handles X-rays. Hubble was almost exclusively about visible light. However, there's a trick to it. Due to the extreme distance, it only transmitted B/W images. What they'd get, however, is a series of images. Each image would show a single wavelength of color. When they get the images back, they convert each one to the matching color, and then composite them together into a final image. But it's still an image of what you'd see in the visible light spectrum (except when they add in IR and UV)."
That’s not entirely right. The narrowband filtering re-assigns some colours to make features easier to discern. If you were in space (so unaffected by the earth’s atmosphere) and had telescopic vision, the pillars of the ‘Pillars of Creation’ would actually appear as reddish-magenta splotches with fewer details. It’s only because some colours have been replaced that the image we are familiar with looks like it does.
@Huw could you reach to The Lego Group about the instructions download link not appearing on the website?
For anyone wondering where the instructions are, I feel that they're gonna put them up on the 18th, when the builds are set to come in store