Washington, Sep 10 (DPA) NASA scientists Wednesday unveiled the first images taken by a revamped Hubble telescope, providing even crisper pictures of distant stars and galaxies.

The colourful images provide a taste of the Hubble's new capability after a servicing mission in May that installed new instruments and repaired broken ones that had hampered the world's most famous telescope.

Hubble has been orbiting Earth since 1990 sending back some of the most spectacular images of galaxies - helping scientists to place the age of the universe at 13.7 billion years, learn that black holes are at the centre of most galaxies, monitor planetary formation and discover that the universe is expanding at an ever-faster pace.

But despite its storied past, the Hubble looked set for the junk heap until the space shuttle Atlantis' repair mission that saw the installation of new instruments and the repair of existing ones to extend its life until at least 2014, and possibly beyond.