Hubble at 20 Take a look back at some of the most beautiful
images taken by one of the world’s biggest space telescopes An
astronaut repairs Hubble as the telescope orbits the Earth. For
20 years, the Hubble Space Telescope has given astronomers views
of the universe they never dreamed possible. Hubble was one of
the first—and biggest—telescopes of its kind. Scientists have
learned a lot about outer space using the powerful telescope.
Hubble has provided new information about how stars and planets
are born. It has discovered a star system 100 times bigger than
our own solar system, and even spotted a huge cloud of
oxygen—the main ingredient in the air we breathe—bigger than the
Milky Way, the galaxy in which our solar system exists. In 2008,
Hubble also found the closest planet to us outside of our solar
system. The planet was named Fomalhaut b and is believed to be
three times the size of Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar
system. Why is the Hubble Space Telescope able to see so much
farther into space