After it was launched in 1990, the Hubble Space Telescope, a $1.5 billion orbiting observatory, was found to have a glitch in its giant lens - rendering Earth's first orbital observatory short-sighted. Gallery: The most amazing photographs in the universe

After a Shuttle repair mission, the telescope has returned some of the most stunning images ever captured by science. Hubble, which is about the size of a bus, has been sending pictures and data back to scientists since it began operating 370 miles up.

It transmits about 120 gigabytes of information every week. That's equal to about 3,600 feet of books on a shelf. By putting a telescope into space, astronomers can get views of distant objects without having to look through Earth's thick atmosphere. From hundreds of miles above the clouds and weather, Hubble can provide pictures of unparallelled clarity and sharpness.

NASA has announced a $900 million repair mission in the next couple of years to keep it flying. When the repairs have been carried out, it is hoped Hubble will continue to give many more years of service and, perhaps, even return images superior to those seen here.

And now astronomers have voted for the best pictures taken by Hubble in its 16 years in orbit. Hubble's Top Ten are shown here, and they illustrate that our universe is not only deeply strange, but also almost impossibly beautiful.