New Milestone by Hubble Space Telescope !

On April 24, 1990, Discovery's STS-31 space shuttle was launched to place one of the world's largest space telescopes into earth's orbit. That was a dream mission. And now, after 21 years of its epic journey, Hubble has reached a new milestone by crossing 1 millionth science observation !

Hubble is a project of international co-operation between NASA and European Space Agency. This huge space telescope has served as a premier space observatory from last two decades. Hubble's discoveries has revolutionized every area of astronomical research. It detected the first organic molecule discovered on a planet outside our solar system. It has also helped the scientists to learn how the birth of planets takes place.

With its stunning cosmic imageries, Hubble has played a ground breaking role in Astronomical Researches. On monday, July 4th, Hubble logged its 1 millionth science observation while searching for water in a planet, 1,000 light years away from us. This millionth observation was made on a gas giant planet, named HAT-P-7b or Kepler-2b, which is larger than our Jupiter. This observation is a spectroscopic measurement, where light is divided into its component colors, which can reveal the chemical composition of cosmic sources.

This space observatory has collected around 50 TeraBytes of data till today ! Two years back, Hubble had undergone a series of repairs and upgrades by astronauts and a Wide Field Camera 3 was installed on may 2009, using which, this millionth observation has been made. Scientists are searching for water vapours on this giant planet. If it is found, Hubble is going to add another jewel to its crown.


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