18,862 tracked publications and 1,159,325 citations from 1990–2026. Hubble Space Telescope. Launched 1990. Life-cycle cost: $14B in 2025 dollars. Active Mission Window May 1, 1990 to January 1, 2024: 16,885 publications, 1,697 top-10% credit.
Pointed Observatory · h-index 350 · 2,777 papers with 100+ citations · prime mission ended 2005
Lifetime
ScopePapers published from the first full month after science operations begin through 2 years after the mission ends. Citations are counted through the third calendar year after each paper appears. Methods/Papers published from the first full month after science operations begin through 2 years after the prime mission ends. Citations are counted through the third calendar year after each paper appears. Methods/Every tracked publication to date, with every citation to date. Methods
Key measures
Active Mission Window · papers May 1, 1990 to January 1, 2024
Tracked publicationsTracked publications: peer-reviewed research papers we found for the mission. The list may not be complete. Methods
16,88516,885
CitationsCitations received by the tracked publications in the selected scope. The two windowed scopes count each paper’s citations only within its citation window. Methods
392,188392,188
Mean citations per publicationMean citations: total citations divided by tracked publications in the selected scope. One blockbuster paper can lift it. Methods
2323
Median citations per publicationMedian citations: the middle paper’s citation count in the selected scope; half the papers have more, half fewer. A single blockbuster sways it less than the mean. Methods
1313
Uncited publicationsUncited publications: papers with no citations in the selected scope. Methods
785 (4.6%)785 (4.6%)
Top-10% creditTop 10%: among the 10% most-cited papers from this division’s missions, ranked against papers published around the same time. A paper naming several missions is split evenly among the missions in this division that claim it, so counts can be fractional. Methods
1,6971,697· 34% of division
Top-1% creditTop 1%: among the 1% most-cited papers from this division’s missions within the selected window. Not adjusted for publication year. A paper naming several missions is split evenly among the missions in this division that claim it, so counts can be fractional. Methods
163163· 33% of division
Lifetime indices · every tracked publication to date, in any scope
h-indexh-index: the largest h such that h papers have at least h citations each. It only grows with time, so older missions score higher. Methods
350350
g-indexg-index: the largest g for which the g most-cited papers together hold at least g² citations. Like the h-index, but it lets the most-cited papers count for more. Methods
590590
m-index, as of October 4, 2026m-index: a mission’s h-index divided by the years since its first peer-reviewed paper. It falls every 1 January even when nothing else changes, so it belongs to the date shown; it also discounts the long operating life that larger missions paid for. Methods
9.59.5
toritori (total research impact, from ADS): for every paper citing one of the mission’s papers, 1 divided by the citing paper’s reference count times the cited paper’s author count, summed, with self-citations removed. It favors citations from papers with short reference lists and from outside the mission’s own authors. Computed over the tracked citation graph, which can be slightly incomplete. Methods
4,2234,223
riqriq (research impact quotient): 1,000 times the square root of tori, divided by the years since the mission’s first paper. A rate, not a total, so it does not keep growing with age the way the h-index and tori do. Methods
We searched NASA’s Astrophysics Data System (ADS) for peer-reviewed articles naming HST in the title, abstract or keywords; standard filters drop articles that are not peer-reviewed and magazine pieces. SciX is ADS’s current interface.
((=abs:("Hubble Space Telescope" OR "Hubble Space" OR "Hubble telescope" OR "Hubble imaging" OR "Hubble images" OR "Hubble image" OR "Hubble imagery" OR "Hubble photometry" OR "Hubble archive" OR "Hubble Legacy" OR "Hubble Deep Field" OR "Hubble Deep Fields" OR "Hubble Ultra Deep Field" OR "Hubble Ultradeep Field" OR "Hubble eXtreme Deep Field" OR "Hubble Frontier Fields" OR "Hubble Frontier Field" OR "Hubble Frontiers Fields" OR "Hubble Source Catalog" OR "Hubble Source Catalogue" OR "Hubble Key Project" OR "Hubble ultraviolet" OR "Hubble UV Legacy" OR "Hubble UV Globular Cluster" OR "Hubble Spectroscopic Legacy" OR "Hubble Tarantula Treasury" OR "Carnegie Hubble Program" OR "Galaxy zoo: Hubble" OR "Lensing and Supernova survey with Hubble" OR "Lensing and Supernovae survey with Hubble" OR "Lensing and Supernova with Hubble" OR "Hubble WFC3" OR "Hubble STIS" OR "Hubble ACS" OR "Hubble COS" OR "Hubble Wide Field Camera" OR "Hubble and Spitzer" OR "Hubble and James Webb" OR "Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph" OR "Advanced Camera for Surveys" OR "Wide Field Camera 3" OR "Wide Field and Planetary Camera" OR "Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer" OR "Cosmic Origins Spectrograph" OR "Goddard High Resolution Spectrograph") OR ((abs:HST OR abs:STIS OR abs:NICMOS OR abs:WFPC OR abs:WFPC2 OR abs:WFC3) AND (abs:telescope OR abs:imaging OR abs:images OR abs:observations OR abs:observed OR abs:photometry OR abs:spectroscopy OR abs:spectra OR abs:spectrum OR abs:ultraviolet OR abs:UV OR abs:optical OR abs:infrared OR abs:archival OR abs:survey OR abs:resolution OR abs:galaxies OR abs:galaxy OR abs:stars OR abs:star OR abs:cluster OR abs:clusters) AND collection:astronomy) OR (abs:GHRS AND (abs:ultraviolet OR abs:UV OR abs:spectrograph) AND collection:astronomy AND NOT (=abs:"giant HII" OR =abs:"giant H II")) OR facility:HST)) AND property:refereed AND doctype:article AND pubdate:[1990-05 TO 2040-01] AND NOT bibstem:("A&R" OR "AIASJ" OR "AeAm" OR "AirSp" OR "AsNow" OR "AsUAI" OR "AvWST" OR "C&E" OR "C&T" OR "CAPJ" OR "E&S" OR "ENews" OR "IrAJ" OR "JCos" OR "JRASC" OR "LAstr" OR "MNSSA" OR "Met" OR "NewSc" OR "Orion" OR "PhT" OR "PhTea" OR "PhuZ" OR "PhyOJ" OR "PhyW" OR "PlR" OR "SciAm" OR "SpFl" OR "ZemVs")
