Today, The Hubble Telescope Sent Its' First Ever Photo From Space

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oi-Anjana NS

By Anjana Ns

Friday, May 20, 2011, 15:29

May 20th is marked in golden letters in the world's history as this was the day when the Hubble Space Telescope sent its first photograph's from space, the first photo ever taken from space.

The Hubble Space Telescope was launched 20 years ago, on April 24, 1990. To celebrate its 20th anniversary, NASA has released an image captured by the telescope. The picture includes the magnificent look of the bright stars.

The photograph is reportedly the image of a three-light-year-tall pillar of gas surrounded by zillion bright stars. The pillar also buries infant stars that jets out gas streaming from the pillar peak. And the turbulent pillar like structure reportedly lies in the Carina Nebula. The nebula is located 7,500 light-years away in the southern constellation Carina.

The Hubble Space Telescope was built by the United States space agency NASA, with the contribution from the European Space Agency. The Telescope was operated by the Space Telescope Science Institute and was named after the astronomer Edwin Hubble.

Hubble Space Telescope is the only telescope designed to be serviced in space by astronauts. There have been four servicing missions performed since its launch and is expected to function until 2014. Its' next successor the James Webb Space Telescope, is yet to be launched.